allmyprettybooks-new

One of Us is Ling by Karen McManus Reviewed by Amanda Kennedy on March 1st, 2017 Published by Delacorte Press We're just entering the second quarter of 2017 and I already know that One of Us is Lying will become a standout book of the year. Described as a cross between The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars , this YA thriller focuses on a group of 5 high school students, strangers to each other at the start of the narrative, attending an after-school detention. By the end, these students know each other much more intimately... But only four of them emerge from the detention alive. I loved this book from start to finish. The characters were so well fleshed out, their narratives believable, though of course with so many twists and turns we cannot fathom the big reveal until it is presented to us. And what a twist it was! I have read many mystery/thriller stories, though can honestly say One of us is Lying  really kept me guessing! Make sure you read this book, no matter what you

Over on Goodreads, there appears a trend for defining books of this genre as "twist-lit". Think of novels like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train in which a defining twist turns everything you had believed on it's head. This is exactly what He Said She Said did for me. It is the thriller I have waited to read for a long, long time. I came to read this quite by accident while browsing through ARCs on Netgalley. Featured among the "most requested titles" it was described as domestic noir: a novel featuring a central storyline of a brutal attack and it's aftermath for the two key witnesses. But it is so very much more than that. It is a tour-de-force of impending dread, a psychological joyride through the nuances of truth, trust and control. The story is told through the eyes of the two central protagonists, Laura and her boyfriend Kit, They are students at first, helping to run a tea stall at a festival in Lizard Point in Devon at the time of the solar ec

In recent weeks, I have read some wonderful titles published by Gaunt Books, home of English translations of popular French works. When browsing the ARCs over on Netgalley I as intrigued by the title, Hell's Gate and requested permission to read. At the time, I was unsure whether this would be a horror/supernatural title, but bore in mind my enjoyment of previously published titled from Gaunt. To my pleasant surprise, I soon discovered that Hell's Gate is not of the horror genre, Instead, I would suggest this closer to the magical realism genre: a study in grief and revenge in which a grieving father follows in the footsteps of Dante in a journey to Hell. Neapolitan taxi driver Matteo is consumed with despair when his son, Pippo, gets caught in the crossfire of gang warfare on his way to school. His wife, Gabriella, plunges into the depths of grief and asks Matteo to either bring her son back, or collect the head of the man who murdered him. A mysterious photograph arrives wi

Subscription boxes have increased in popularity recently. We are tempted by monthly deliveries of geek merchandise, toiletries and even tea! Just a few months ago, I attempted to discover whether there were any literary subscription boxes to tempt my interest. There were many U.S. based services, but seemingly few in the U.K (at least, none of which piqued my interest). In retrospect, I probably wasn't looking hard enough, or perhaps I didn't Google using the ideal search terms... More recently I discovered a few via the #bookbox tag on Instagram and renewed my search. This time I was able to track down rather a lot, 18 in fact, which serve a wide variety of interests to suit any bookish subscriber who would prefer a more local delivery. In this post, I present 18 great British book subscription services. Please let us know your favourites, or if there are any services I have missed, in the comments section below. Tea and Book Club by Bookishly The Bookishly team are book lover

This June, the publisher Vintage will release a set of 20 "Vintage Minis: short, compelling titles on big subjects collected from the world's greatest writers. Each Vintage Mini will comprise of a complete reading experience and will be around 100 pages long. The titles are to be published in A-Format (the size of most mass-market paperbacks) and will feature a range of fiction, non-fiction and essays. The cover designs for the series are minimalist but vibrant; a different designer was chosen for each edition. Priced at just £3.50 each, they are sure to please readers who would like to broaden their reading habits with a short dose and perhaps inspire exploration into lengthier works from Vintage's back catalogue. Here are each of the titles, which will be available in bookstores from June 1st, 2017: Desire by Haruki Murakami Love by Jeanette Winterson Babies by Anne Enright Language by Xiaolu Guo Motherhood by Helen Simpson Fatherhood by Karl Ove Knausgaard Summer by Lau

If you enjoy stories set in Paris, you may want to check out the work of Adria J. Camino, who has recently released her fourth novel, Paris Rue Des Martyrs. Those who subscribe to Cimino's email newsletter can currently download her short story, Flore, for free. Apolline goes to Café de Flore in her chic Parisian neighborhood every week with her mother and grandmother. But today, after the teatime routine, she dares to return alone… for an intriguing encounter. "Flore" is the first in a series of Café Life stories by Adria J. Cimino. In this volume, it is accompanied by "Love Unlocked", one of the author’s stories from the anthology That's Paris.  Visit Adria J. Cimino's website to learn more or subscribe .

Back in the 1920's, celebrated screenwriter Ben Hechts wrote an article called "50 Books that are Books" in a column in The Chicago Daily News. This was in response to a letter from a friend who had requested a list of 50 books as the basis for a compact personal library: As for the library, I want no more than fifty books. And none of them modern; that is, no novels that are coming off the presses these last ten years. Are there fifty intelligent books in the world? To create his list, Hechts sat down in front of his typewriter to recall 50 such books from memory: "Ten minutes in front of the bookshelves and there would be five hundred volumes, all demanding recognition". The following is a list of the 50 books Hechts recommends complete with his descriptions, along with (where applicable) links to where they can be downloaded as free digital editions*. 1. The Idiot by Dostoevsky . A marvelous novel. For years it has remained in my mind as the best book I ever