Book Review: Soul Beach ARC

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Indigo (1 Sep 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1780620063
• ISBN-13: 978-1780620060

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Soul Beach was a thrilling, heart-stopping and romantic read.

Our protagonist is sixteen year old Alice who is grieving for her big sister, Meggie.  Four months ago, Meggie was strangled…and the killer hasn’t been caught. Just when Alice thinks her life is slowly starting to move forward again, it is thrown straight back into a loop by the arrival of an email. From her sister.

Alice receives an invite to the elusive social network site, Soul Beach, where she can talk once again with her sister. At first she believes it is a sick joke and ignores it, but when she hears the plea of her sister, Alice cannot ignore it.

Soul Beach becomes a morbid fascination for Alice. Full to the brim of the young and beautiful, and dead, the Beach becomes more real to her than her own reality. It seduces her senses and while she is fully grounded in her room, earphones in and looking at the laptop screen, she can almost feel the warmth from the sun, feel the sand beneath her feet and hear the gentle slapping of the waves.

In her own reality, Alice’s friends are losing patience. Almost overnight Alice loses what progress she made over the death of Meggie and becomes a recluse – her own priority the Beach. But the people on the Beach are eager for Alice to return to her reality – to help them…and undercover the truth behind their deaths. Because no one who died of natural causes is on the Beach.

Soul Beach was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. With random excerpts from the killer’s perspective, it gives the book a certain fearful reality to it, and how people we encounter everyday are capable of brutal acts. Most importantly it shows us how fragile life can be.

I adored Alice and sympathised with her as she battled to keep up a normal façade when she is feeling anything but. She is a motivated character and well driven, and I cannot wait to see where ends up in the second instalment of this new trilogy.

Soul Beach has something for everyone – sadness, piles of emotion, murder mystery and an impossible romance. We were left with a heck of a cliff-hanger that ensures the wait till the next book will be excruciating indeed.

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Book Review: A Private Affair

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Orion (21 July 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 140910172X
• ISBN-13: 978-1409101727

Sam, the ugly duckling who grew into a swan. Now beautiful and wealthy, with a glittering career, no one can understand why she's still on her own. When she meets a handsome stranger on holiday, things finally seem to be falling into place... Meagan, a true survivor. The teenage runaway who worked her way off the streets, she was swept off her feet by Tom, a young army officer, to live on the other side of the world, finally escaping the family she loathed... Dani, the beautiful misfit, desperately looking for daddy in all the wrong places, and finding instead a man who will teach her everything that is wrong and corrupt about love. And Abby, the model wife, everything her husband and family could want and more, but never being herself. Until a dark secret threatens to pull her well-ordered life apart. A Private Affair is the new spellbinding tale of love and friendship, glamour and guilt from bestselling author Lesley Lokko.

A Private Affair follows the lives of Sam, Dani, Abbi and Meaghan. All very different women with very different upbringings and backgrounds. All from different places all over the world. But one thing connects them – a man.

The novel shows a unique insight into what it is to be an Army Wife, to have a husband absent for long stretches of time and the desperate acts of lonely people.

A Private Affair is split between being told by all the women over different time periods of their lives. It shows how they came to be and the road they took to get there.

I thought the novel was harsh and brutal, but in a very good way. There were no rose coloured glasses when showing the true nature of some soldiers or how they treat their wives. It felt very real, and the characters of the woman simply brought the book to life.

A sense of trepidation crept over me while I was reading, that far off sense of fear that cannot be places.

Though a hefty book to get through, it was worth every word. A very thought provoking read. 

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Book Review: Darwin's Children

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 390 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Penumbra Publishing (10 May 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Language English
• ASIN: B0050CL8R2

Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening – especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts!Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything.As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and she doesn’t really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there’s one thing she can’t control – and that’s her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of...Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!

Darwin’s Children was a great new paranormal YA. The author took abilities and gave them a new twist to make them fresh and exciting. The abilities have been seen more in vampires and other paranormal creatures in recent years. The characters with their powers are more reminiscent of X-Men than Twilight. But that doesn’t mean Darwin’s Children isn’t without its bite or two…

Our protagonist is Jaycie, who is down to earth and charming and faces a hard time in every direction – new definition of her relationship with best friend, Matt, snobby school and equally snobby classmates, her growing powers, and helping new friend Haylee.

Darwin’s Children, while hilariously funny and romantic, is equal parts and awesome action book – the ultimate Good Vs. Evil showdown…with Haylee and Jaycie the ultimate avengers.

The author kept it real throughout the book while still effortlessly maintaining the fantasy elements, the lines blurring so you believe it could actually happen. The tension rose as did the action, but still gave you time to breath with steamy Matt-shaped interludes.

Overall, Darwin’s Children was a charming and intense read. 

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