Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Title: Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Author: Thomas Hardy
Type: Paperback
Read: 20th April - 29th April
Rating: 4/5
Published: 2009 by Harper Collins Childrens Books 

Tess is a good woman. But in her time & her place, being good, & being a woman, is not enough to find justice in a world dominated by powerful men, & even more powerful traditions. When Tess falls in love with Angel, she cannot imagine the heartbreak that will follow.

To read a classic i need to be in the right frame of mind. I find them so difficult to understand. I did enjoy this story. I felt sorry for Tess and I really do not think she deserved to die for her sins. It's a tragic tale written hundreds of years ago. 

Go get it from: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones

Gravity

Title: Gravity
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Type: Paperback
Read: 15th April - 19th April
Rating: 4/5
Published: 1st December 2012 by Harper Collins

 Dr. Emma Watson and five other hand-picked astronauts are about to take part in the trip of a lifetime - studying living creatures in space. But an alien life form, found in the deepest crevices of the ocean floor, is accidentally brought aboard the shuttle Atlantis. This mutated alien life form makes the creatures in Aliens look like backyard pets.
Soon the crew are suffering severe stomach pains, violent convulsions, and eyes so bloodshot that a gallon of Murine wouldn't help. Gerritsen brilliantly describes the difficulties of treating sick people inside a space module, and how the lack of gravity affects the process of taking blood and inserting a nasal tube. Dr. Watson does her best, but her colleagues die off one by one and the people at NASA don't want to risk bringing the platform back to earth. Only Emma's husband, a doctor/astronaut himself, refuses to give up on her. 

Oh my gosh. When a book starts to make you worried about the characters & their safety you just know it's going to be a cracker of a book. This has everything, drama, suspense, mystery and death! It's so good.
Gravity is pretty much set in space, it's captivating. It cries out to be read. A contamination occurs aboard ISS and its wiping out every astronaut on board. So much so the army won't let them evacuate to earth.

NASA are kept in the dark, they want their astronauts home, but they've no idea what they are working against. What exactly is it that's killing everyone in sight & blowing up their bodies. It's gross.

I loved the pace of the story. The NASA talk confused me but it's all explained at the back afterwards. It's a great story. You connect with the characters so much & you're constantly wondering what this new life form is and how it's come about, what will stop it.

I just love Tess books. I admit i sometimes find the standalone books harder to get in as there's a bunch of new characters to get used to and no back story but this book I loved. Tess is a great storyteller and you won't be disappointed.

Go get it from: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones 

The Third Wife

Title: The Third Wife
Author: Lisa Jewell
Type: Hardback
Read: 10th April - 14th April
Rating: 3/5
Published: 3rd July 2014 by Century

London 2011: In the early hours of a summer morning, a young woman is killed by a bus. A tragic accident? Or suicide?

A year later, her devastated husband, Adrian Wolfe, is determined to find out. Adrian and Maya had only recently married, and he'd always believed they were happy together. His children from his two previous marriages loved her. And Maya loved them.
She had a job she enjoyed, she had plenty of friends, and she and Adrian were trying for a baby. They seemed to have the perfect life. Why then might she have wanted to kill herself? When Adrian finds a hidden stash of poisonous emails on Maya's laptop he begins to identify the dark cracks in her life.
Because everyone has secrets.
And secrets have consequences
Some of which can be devastating.

I hate writing reviews for authors that i adore when they're less than 4 star. I really do. I adore Lisa. Her books are some of my favourite and i can't fault any. Except this book. I'm really not sure what to think about it at all.

The main character Adrian was a pain, if he was happy then so should everyone else be. Never mind there are three wives and five kids involved. How they even got along was beyond me. I liked the mystery bit about who wrote the hate emails to Maya, but I really didn't see it coming who it was in the end. There was never any indication of it being said person until the very last few chapters and even then i thought it was far fetched.

The only person i truely felt for in this book and only a little mind, was Maya. Who I thought was mad for even joining a family like the Wolfe's. She tried, but it seemed wasn't appreciated, everyone had their little digs at her and that must have been hard. Although the one annoying character who i was hoping be the one reveled to do the bad thing was Charlotte. God, what an utterly annoying, happy-over-the-top pretty princess. She was just there, for no reason at all.

Blah i can't even write a proper review. It's not Lisa's greatest book. This just doesnt' feel to go anywhere and it's a shame as Lisa has some cracking books.

Go get it from: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones

The Girl In 6E

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The Girl On The Train

Title: The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
Type: Hardback
Read: 4th April - 6th April
Rating: 4/5
Published: 15th January 2015 by Transworld

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

This book had such a good PR run. Like it was everywhere. There was so much hype about it, everyone wanted to read it. Me included. I waited a few weeks or so before i decided to buy it and it's really rare i buy a book and read it with a week or two. But figured this would be a quick read. I wasn't wrong.

The Girl On The Train is described as the next Gone Girl. Whilst I've never read that book before, I cant' comment. However it's addictive. It does shout out to be read in one sitting, it's a page turner. It's classed as a thriller, I'm unsure if it really is such. It does have the whole drama and suspense in it and mystery but is it scary enough to be a thriller. Probably not.

The story is told via three different view points Rachel, who is the girl on the train. Megan and also Anna. The characters are so different, one minute they're likeable, the next you can't stand them. They're real. Rachel is just a raving alcoholic, Megan is the girl Rachel views from the train everyday. Anna is the one who got the husband. They're just three totally messed up women who through some crazy times, are brought together in a way they probably never expected. Their lives are turned upside down and they're sad, lonely, crying out for attention. They're just human.

It wasn't until the last probably 30 odd pages, I really understood what was happening, what brought everyone together. It wasn't what i was expecting either. I think that was a good thing. I like being surprised, I love not guessing halfway through a book at the ending. So well done on that.

I didn't love the book and I can't say why because I just don't know. Perhaps because of all the hype, a reader sometimes goes into a book expecting great things. I think it failed on that but I'm not sure why. There seemed something missing and I can't say what. It was good. Does the book live upto it's hype, I guess it depends on the reader. I can see this being made into a film though.

Go get it from: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones

Penelope

Title: Penelope
Author: Rebecca Harrington
Type: Paperback
Read: 31st March - 3rd April
Rating: 1/5
Published: July 2013 by Virago Press (UK)

When Penelope O’Shaunessy, “an incoming freshman of average height and lank hair” steps into Harvard Yard for the first time she has lots of advice from her mother: "Don't be too enthusiastic, don't talk to people who seem to be getting annoyed, and for heaven's sake, stop playing Tetris on your phone at parties." Penelope needs this advice. She is the kind of girl who passes through much of her life with coffee spilled on her white shirt, who can't quite tell when people are joking, and who, inevitably, always says the wrong thing. But no amount of coaching will prepare Penelope for the people she meets at school.

I have no words for this book whatsoever. It's probably the most boring, tedious, ill written book i've picked up. I dont' even know why i picked it up. The cover doesn't scream, pick me. The blurb doesn't shout to be read. It was just there and I picked it up, albite a year or so ago, but i now know why its been on my shelf for a crazy lenght of time.
This book, might be good for those who went to Harvard and want to remenise about the good times. Maybe. At a huge push. But really. Don't read it. It's terrible.

Go get it from: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones