Monthly Archives: March 2011

Being Billy by Phil Earle

Faces flashed before my eyes. And for every face there was a time that they had let me down. Each punch that landed was revenge, my chance to tell them I hadn’t forgotten what they did. Eight years in a care home makes Billy Finn a professional lifer. And Billy’s angry – with the system, the social workers, and the mother that gave him away. As far as Billy’s concerned, he’s on his own. His little brother and sister keep him going, though they can’t keep him out of trouble. But he isn’t being difficult on purpose. Billy’s just being Billy. He can’t be anything else. Can he?
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Although this is a young adult/teen book, straight away I have to say I absolutely loved this story.  Any book (that isn’t of the romance genre) which involves you so much that you cry ………………. has to have something special about it!
Having worked in the past on the streets as leader-in-charge for a youth work project and for the past ten years working in schools, I can tell you for certain that Billy’s story is the real deal – real life.  
The blurb gives you all the background you need and to which the story is built around.  I found Billy’s story easy to read and easy to identify with – it is sensitively written.  All the characters are well-rounded and have depth and you feel yourself supporting Billy – even when he’s lashing out in anger.  It’s easy to feel the depth of his emotions – I just wanted to mother him! 
Some of the things that happen might make you feel uncomfortable but that will probably be your response to things you don’t want to think about or acknowledge! This is a story that may take you out of your comfort zone ………..  which we all need from time-to-time!
I really enjoyed ‘watching’ Billy change and grow.  Billy is ………………….  Well, just being Billy isn’t he? 
You can find out more about Phil Earle and upcoming events on his blog.  

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=0141331356&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

13, rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro

When this book was offered for review on Twitter through @Headlinechiclit I searched for more information and loved that the story was created from a real box of mementos – my curiosity was instantly piqued!  Being addicted to my own family history trail and having items passed down (that in some cases I know nothing about), I too have imagined different scenarios for each item.  I was interested to see how the author had used the memories.
The box of memories contain old love letters from WW1, church gloves, dried flowers, a rosary, photographs, motorbike licence, coins, postcards etc.  It came into Elena’s possession through her mother who salvaged it from a Parisian apartment – the owner, Louise Brunet, had died alone with no relatives to sort out her belongings.  The box has travelled with the author ‘through life and across the world’ with an intention of creating her own story.
Photographs of the ‘treasures’ are brilliantly used ……………  they are integral ……………  they are the story!
The story opens telling us about the ‘gift’ the secretary leaves hidden for professors who she feels need the memories in their lives.  She has chosen American professor Trevor Stratton this year and from there, it is Trevor who narrates.  There is a photograph of the lid of the box and underneath ‘Would you like to open it?’  I was hooked!
This is a story about love and passion during WW1 and in the late 1920’s. It is centred around not only Louise Brunet’s Parisian life but also around Trevor Stratton’s as well.  It is sensual in places and the WW1 scenes are graphic and brutal.  There are also places where time doesn’t exist, as we know it!
The writing style, for me, fitted with the late 1920’s.  Words used are beautiful and evocative. The timing of the ‘pieces’ fitting into place were at the right time, holding my intrigue and keeping me hooked. 
I feel Elena has done justice to the memories that came into her possession.  Artefacts that would have remained hidden are out there in the public domain and Louise Brunet is not forgotten.  A wonderful thought when she didn’t have anyone to remember her at the end of her life!
13, rue Therese will be published in hardback by Headline Review on 14th April 2011 – Will you open the box?

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=075537424X&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

The High Heeled guide to Enlightenment by Alice Grist

Alice Grist explains her work as ‘a modern Woman s introduction to a world of spirituality and alternative thought’. What it actually does is re-unite the modern, commercially afflicted female with the concepts, ideas, beliefs and practices of the Earth Mother within. Grist clearly explains that there is no need for ditching the comforts of home for a life of solitude in a damp cave far, far away in order to improve well-being and developing spiritual integrity. It can be as simple as a change of mind or heart, taking on one thing that resonates can lead to a myriad of improvements. This book goes a long way to bridge the gap between the ‘land of confusion’ and a place of infinite possibilities. –Kate Osborne, Editor, Kindred Spirit Magazine

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This book is one I would love to have had in my possession when I started out searching for a sense of belonging 28 years ago!

Full of humour and ‘down to earth’ (no really, it is!), it’s Alice’s modern day quest to find healing through a spiritual journey that although is very personal, is also written for her readers to do their own ‘research’ – to experience for themselves the myriad paths that are available for seekers. 

You won’t find any technical words that you know absolutely nothing about – everything is explained.  Observations and insights will prick your subconscious and get the wheel turning.  It certainly made me remember books I have on my shelf from years ago that I need to re-read in light of my own experiences along the path (Awakening the Buddha Within springs to mind).

My favourite has to be Alice’s own experiences!  She is honest and open and not afraid to relate when she has found it a struggle.  I have to admire her for the section on Kabbalah – I gave up at the first hurdle and have never gone back to it.

Synchronicity is something I strongly believe in.  I had been feeling that I was neglecting my spiritual life.  Alice’s book came at the right time for me – it’s made me realise that I am practising my chosen spirituality every day.  Just because I have books unread on my shelves, does not mean my soul is not being nurtured.

Whether you have only just started feeling restless, feeling something is missing from your life – or have been searching for a while, I would recommend this book.  It’s reminded me of a request I have to make to the universe ……………………….


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You can join ‘Soul Café’ which is Alice’s network in relation to The High Heeled guide to Enlightenment.  I have been a member since November 2010.  You will find forums, groups, blogs and friends.  Why don’t you make a visit!

Alice’s second book ‘High Heeled Guide to Spiritual Living’ is out at the end of July.  You can pre-order on Amazon.  You can also join the Facebook page.

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1846942217&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Glasshopper by Isabel Ashdown

I have just ordered my copy of Glasshopper from Amazon after reading the first chapter which Isabel posted on Twitter (@IsabelAshdown).  I’m hooked and really looking forward to reading it!

You can read the blurb and the first chapter on Isabel’s website.  Not only that, she is also running a competition to win advance copies of her next novel ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ – all you have to do is write a brief review of Glasshopper on Amazon and let her know you’ve done so through either Twitter or Facebook.

Deadline for the above is Sunday 15th May 2011. 

Good luck!

the memory cage by Ruth Eastham

Alex’s grandfather keeps forgetting things, and Alex has overheard his adoptive parents say that they’re going to put granddad in a home. His grandfather begs Alex to save him from that, and it’s a promise Alex is desperate to keep But Alex once promised his little brother that he would save him, and in the terror of the Bosnian war, he failed.  As Alex struggles to protect his grandfather, he uncovers secrets that his family and the village have kept for two generation. Unravelling them will cause grief, but will they save grandfather, and perhaps help Alex come to terms with his own private war.

A simply written, yet touching and thought-provoking first novel from Ruth Eastham, who was short-listed for the BBC Talent Children’s Fiction Prize.

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This is such a sensitively written story for children aged 10 or over focussing on the Smith family and secrets that affect it’s foundations.

Part 1 opens with the family at breakfast.  We are shown how protective Alex is of his grandfather Richard.  We know there is something Alex is trying to hide in connection with Richard and willing him to remember to eat.  This is our first introduction to Alzheimers and straight away we are involved with the emotions that engenders.  At the same time, we are made to think how children may see an adopted child (Alex) as an intrusive element into a family unit with the resultant verbal bullying (and later physical as well).  I must admit, even though I could understand Leonard and his actions, I really didn’t like his character – but I did have a change of heart later in the story!

I loved the relationship Alex had with his grandfather.  Despite the Alzheimers and Richard scaring him a few times, there was still a feeling of these two belonging together.  I felt the symptoms of Alzheimers were true-to-life.  I had tears a few times when empathising with how the Smith family, including granddad, were affected.

The story flips backwards in time to when Alex was being hunted as a result of the Yugoslavian wars.  This is quite central to understanding Alex and how he reacts in certain situations.  These flashbacks are written at just the right time, weaving around the secrets that are being uncovered.

The way Ruth Eastham wrote the clues for solving the secrets were brilliantly timed and certainly made me think and try to guess where the story was taking me.

Despite the many threads to this story it is so well written that at no point are you feeling ‘lost’ as the skill of Ruth Eastham has woven them into a whole.

The story for me was not only about a family uncovering its secrets and becoming whole because of the revelations but also of a ‘lost’ child finding himself  ……………. and also becoming whole.

I love the way the story finished as it opened bringing us full circle but this time with a different thought, a different outcome.  What’s your earliest memory?

At the end of the story in my copy of the book, there are websites mentioning Alzheimers, adoption and the Yugoslavic conflict, all child friendly of course – what a brilliant idea!

My uncorrected proof copy was won during a Twitter Battleships game with @scholasticuk.  Thank you Scholastic!

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1407120522&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Sigrun’s Secret by Marie-Louise Jensen

‘Their garments are black as night.  They carry torches in their hands, darkness and anger in their heart.  They are coming.’

When a dark family secret is exposed, Sigrun’s peaceful life is shattered.  Forced to pay for her parents’ misdeeds, she finds herself exiled from all she knows – and from the boy she loves – for three long years.

Yet more secrets lie ahead; not least the power Sigrun finds awakening in herself, seemingly passed to her from a mysterious amulet.  Can she use her new-found gift to save herself and those around her from the dangers they face?  And will true love wait until her return?


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We first meet Sigrun as she is trying to break in a colt that so far, has resisted all attempts at domestication.  Her father’s ship and her uncle’s have both arrived into the bay at the same time.  Sigrun makes a spectacular arrival at that moment and it is here where we see her mother, Thora, have her first message from the goddess Freya.  Still caught up in the first chapter we meet the returning childhood playmate, Ingvar, who Sigrun doesn’t recognise.  The scene is set.  Within the first chapter I was hooked and wanted to find out how this story would unfold.

There are so many twists and turns to the path of Sigrun’s journey from Iceland to Jorvik.  I enjoyed reading how life was for her family as farmers and how it changed living in the city.  The characters we meet are well delineated and easy to identify with.  How the Norse culture felt about honour, shame and revenge is central to the plot. The Norse way of life is scattered throughout – the longhouses, the domestic arrangements, how during emigration the whole family move, the fostering of children, and Valhalla.  I loved the ‘assembly’, which I felt was very powerful and truly showed how Sigrun had matured.  I could imagine myself alongside Sigrun experiencing this way of life. 

If you enjoy Norse myths and legends you will love reading this book!  I thought it was a powerful tale of a teenager coming into her own power.  For me, the ‘true love’ was a sub plot running underneath and winding around this.

If you want to know the secrets ………………….  Well, you won’t be reading them here ………………………….

I won this signed book in a Twitter competition – thank you to Jasmine Richards (Twitter @JNRichards) for choosing my entry.

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=0192728822&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Knowing Me Knowing You by Mandy Baggot

Recently single mother Kate is struggling.  Clinging on to a career and bringing up her 2 year old daughter leads to nights alone drowning her sorrows in the cheapest white wine she can find.

Forced to employ Joel, a male escort, to accompany her to a professionals’ dinner, Kate somehow ends up in the middle of a relationship contest, competing for a £100,000 prize alongside someone she barely knows.

With her boss, the Lady Dragon Miranda, desperate for Kate to flounder, her tarot card reading child-minder trying to match-make and her ex-husband making her life a misery, can Kate keep her life on an even keel?  And more importantly can she put her trust in a serial dater who used to be an underwear model?

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This is the second novel of MB’s I’ve read and although I enjoyed Breaking the Ice, her writing style, characters and plots seem to improve the more confidence she gains as an author.

When we meet Kate her life is not at all what she expected it to be.  She is unbelieving and numb about the departure of Matthew, with her self-worth dragging behind her.  I was quickly drawn into her story, not only because it starts to unfold from the beginning but also because of the style of writing.  I loved the fact that Kate’s background information is not lengthy and drawn-out but unwinds gently as the story takes shape. Kate is actually a very strong woman, despite the knocks.  Her sense of humour comes across very strongly and I often had a smile on my face.  She is the type of person I would choose to have as a friend! Our hero, Joel, is introduced to us quite early in the story.  I loved the way MB created him as a ‘male model’ stereotype but with depth in his soul.  He is very solid and despite his own hang-ups, very centred and balanced (although prepared to be sleazy and under-hand himself).

I loved all the characters in this book.  ‘Mione, to me, is the epitome of the ‘earth mother’.  She is a nurturer on an outer and inner level.   Lynn is a work colleague we would all love to have and Kate’s arch-nemesis, Miranda is the woman we all love to hate! Matthew is the ex quite a few of us may have had the misfortune to meet at some point in our lives …………………….…….

Even though I have read quite a few ‘love stories’ with plots that are very similar, at no point is this story laborious.  The tension comes at just the right point to keep your interest and you feel yourself championing the lead characters.  There are some explosive moments where I found myself holding my breath and one crisis in particular I hadn’t figured on at all! 

I love to read chick lit where we see our heroine at her worst, follow her on her life’s path, empathise with lessons that lead to growth, identify with her and finally see her glowing and where she should be – and this book has it all.  This is much more than a love story – the plot and sub plot will hold your interest throughout.  It is a positive story that is full of hope and promise.  Go get it for the feel-good factor!

Thank you to Mandy Baggot for providing me with a ‘review’ copy.  You can get your copy from mid-March from online book stores.
http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1908147601&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Privileges by Jonathan Dee

The lives of the Morey family are the focus in this novel on love and wealth.

The story opens with the marriage of Adam and Cynthia.  Neither of them come from a ‘monied’ background, it is Cynthia’s stepfather Warren who provides the opulence from his bank balance………..  and neither of them had positive role models in their own parents.  They are clearly in love.  Their children, April and Jonas, are born quite early in the marriage and the stage is set.

Adam is a character who despite coming across as not looking back into the past has an obsession about his health, which is clearly related to the ill health suffered from his father.  He begins to lead a charmed life thanks to his employer and when doing what he is told bores him he becomes involved in trading on the side – which also coincides with life not moving fast enough for Cynthia.  I felt he was a character who didn’t think about how his actions affected others.

Cynthia also does not let the past affect her present.  Apart from her love for Adam, this makes her appear shallow.  If it wasn’t for how she reacted to a crisis with her children when they were younger, I wouldn’t have known that she actually loved them.  In fact, I found the children’s earlier lives misleading as I thought Cynthia was going to be an over-protective mother but in their mid-teens she doesn’t even know whether they are in the penthouse or not! 

The characters come across to the reader as very believable – even the ones on the periphery whose lives we know little about but can tell from their actions the type of people they are.

The Morey’s story is, I think, an accurate portrayal of two people who love each other to the exclusion of anyone else and how that effects all the other close relationships that should have been nurtured but instead are side-lined.  It shows us that what some might consider to be a life lived successfully on the outside may be considered by others as scarred and broken on an inner level.  JD has the dysfunctional family performing for us at an optimal level with the addition of the rich and ‘famous’ thrown in the mix. You may find yourself feeling uncomfortable at times – perhaps prompting you to look at your own ‘shadow’ side. 

It is definitely worth reading if you like to read about the rich and successful.  My only disappointment is that I was hoping there would be a different outcome to Adam’s underhand trading!

Thank you for Constable & Robinson for supplying me with a copy to review.

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=jersjam-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=1849015937&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr