The Spirit Engineer by A J West

The Spirit Engineer by A.J. West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 299

Publisher - Duckworth

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism in the form of seances that attempt to contact the spirits of loved ones lost at sea.

William is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sat around the circle something happens that places doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far?

This early 20th century gothic set in Northern Ireland contains all the mystery and intrigue one might expect from a Sarah Waters novel. Deftly plotted with echoes of The Woman in Black, readers will be thrilled to discover West’s chilling prose.

Based on the true story of William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters that include Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, The Spirit Engineer conjures a haunting tale that will keep readers guessing until the very end.



My Review

William Jackson Crawford, married to Elizabeth and father to three children. Elizabeth still grieves her brother who died on the Titanic and is very spiritual. William is a scientist, one thing leads to another and William gets exposed to the medium Kathleen Golighter. In a twist of events William becomes The Spirit Engineer trying to debunk the seances and spiritual happenings. Everything is seemingly going well, fame, fortune and paid to debunk William finds himself going from scathing sceptic to questioning is the phenomenon real?

Well, I can't say there is many likeable characters, William is actually someone who many a time I wanted to slap and would use the phrase insufferable. The book has death and even a wee shock or two along the way, well I was shocked.

I don't know anything about the real life people featured in the book so I don't know how accurate events/characters are in the book nor their likeness. Was I interested? yes absolutely but I really struggled to like the characters.

The book opens with a dark scene and then takes us back, I completely forgot about that and did immerse in the book, not knowing where it would go. Short chapters and I did enjoy the seances and ghost/haunty parts but I can't say I loved the book, 3/5. It was my first time reading this author, would I read them again, yeah sure.

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Aliens Bishop by T R Napper

Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 2 days

Pages - 496

Publisher - Titan Books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

A direct sequel to Aliens and Alien 3 —Weyland-Yutani, the Colonial Marines, and Bishop’s creator all pursue the android for the deadly Xenomorph data contained in his brain. Written by T. R. Napper, author of the acclaimed 36 Streets , whose explosive work explores the artificial intelligence and what it is to be human.


My Review

YOU GUYS! I LOVE the aliens franchise and Bishop is one of my faves, the dude is a good yin, loyal and obviously if you have seen the movies you know how we left Bishop and the book picks up from there. The book is split, we have the new team of marines and one of them is brother of Apone (Aliens), a new recruit and with any marine squad you aren't accepted until you proved yourself. A ship earmarked for a fate worse than death and Michael Bishop, creator of our beloved Bishop is bringing our boy back, upgraded and some other AI *twitch*.

We bounce between the three, Michael wants something from Bishop and Bishop as always is loyal and an upstanding guy. We have some real shady characters and low to no morals, xenomorphs, facehuggers and the old humans will never learn or see past their greed.

New characters and some impressive feats and shows of bravery, courage and preservation and Bishop, aw I missed Bishop. I know some folks felt the book had more of the newbs and not as much of Bishop (considering the book is named Bishop) however I thought he featured well/decent amount. Don't get me wrong we are always gonna want more but I think it is well balanced. The xenos/facehuggers took a while to appear but I think with so many characters we did need time to get to know the players.

I did have some outrage and want to shake some characters but you know an author has done a great job when you get the rage and emotive shouting lol. I think this is my first by this author, I hope they do more of the Aliens franchise and I will check out their other stuff, 4/5.

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A Sliver Of Darkness by C J Tudor

A Sliver of Darkness by C J Tudor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 6 days in and out

Publisher - Michael Joseph Publisher

Pages - 329

Source - Netgalley and Waterstones

Blurb from Amazon

PREPARE TO BE TERRIFIED THIS HALLOWEEN WITH C. J. TUDOR'S BONE-CHILLING COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES

'All hail the queen of scream. C.J. Tudor at her spine-tingling, nightmare-inducing best. Read it if you dare . . .' CHRIS WHITAKER

'This unsettling collection of stories from a writer often called the 'British Stephen King' deftly inverts the banal and unremarkable to reveal their underlying horror' METRO

'Beautifully barbaric, creepy as hell and crammed with barbed wit' JOHN MARRS

A creak of the floorboard, a shiver down your spine, the feeling that you're not alone . . .



My Review

I am the first to say I am not a huge fan of short stories, other than Stephen King but I do enjoy Tudor's stories so gave this a go. Described as Eleven Twisted Tales of the Macabre, short, quick to the point & I actually liked and enjoyed most of them.

End of the liner - a story set on a cruise ship, sounds like bliss yes? You would be wrong, dead wrong.

The Block - A block of flats, abandoned, how many of us have been drawn into abandoned buildings? This one gives us pretty good reasons NOT to go in, no matter how tempting.

Runaway Blues - A man who plays amazing blues despite being out of place, a woman he loves very much and some creepy repercussions/revelations.

The Completion - I can't say really much about this one, I didn't love it and don't really know what to say about it, estate agents and meh.

The Lion At The Gate - how many times in horror movies/creepy pictures have we felt they moved or a bit of danger, this one is creepy/fab.

Gloria - We have met before and I could do with a hole story more of her. Righteous and dare I say vigilanty justice.

I'm not Ted - temptation :D that is all I am gonna say

Final Course - a reunion of friends, a fancy manner and secrets, everyone has secrets, some deadly

The Copy Shop - This reminded me of something but I can't think what. How many times have we wanted something fixed well now you can and anything goes

Dust - actions and consequences with echoes of Hotel California :D

Butterfly Island - Butterflies are the most beautiful little creatures, but what if they weren't, what if they were but imagine a world, a place where they became a thing to fear.


What is different and what I personally liked (I read the tree book version) - she gives us an intro at each story to what sparked/prompted the story that follows. I love that, sometimes you read a book and think how do they come up with this stuff, well Tudor gives us just that with these, 4/5 from me this time.

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What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges

What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 319

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Just about everything in Endora, Iowa (pop. 1,091 and dwindling) is eating Gilbert Grape, a twenty-four-year-old grocery clerk who dreams only of leaving. His enormous mother, once the town sweetheart, has been eating nonstop ever since her husband's suicide, and the floor beneath her TV chair is threatening to cave in. Gilbert's long-suffering older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis, and his knockout younger sister has become hooked on makeup, boys, and Jesus--in that order, but the biggest event on the horizon for all the Grapes is the eighteenth birthday of Gilbert's younger brother, Arnie, who is a living miracle just for having survived so long. As the Grapes gather in Endora, a mysterious beauty glides through town on a bicycle and rides circles around Gilbert, until he begins to see a new vision of his family and himself.


My Review

So I know this is a movie with Johnny Depp and a very young Leonardo DiCaprio, I don't think I have seen it but little bits, I recognised the bath scene. The main character is Gilbert Grape, 24 years old, living in a small town and quite angry and over the hand life has given him. Going through the motions until a young lassie appears on her bike and captures Gilbert's attention and seeing his life through new eyes.

I can't say Gilbert is a nice character, he is a bit of a tool, not a great pal nor brother although he does have his moments with Arnie, his miracle brother the doctors had told would never make his 18th birthday. As Arnie's birthday gets closer the family make big plans for the monumental achievement. Amidst this we meet Gilbert's mother, once the town sweetheart and now hugely overweight and stays indoors 24/7 to keep from ridicule and gossip. Two older siblings who managed to escape, his older sister who lives at home and his younger sister who is a bit high maintenance, Elvis loving and newly finding the attraction to/of boys.

The book covers a whole host of dynamics, relationships, issues, some of the language is not used nowadays (Arnie is referred to as the derogatory R word multiple times). I know some people love this book, I wasn't one of them, I don't hate it but maybe I just didn't get what the author was shooting for? There was a scene I did gasp at and I felt for the wean but a lot of the time I was really annoyed at the characters behaviours and choices. Maybe that is indeed what Hedges was going for, imperfect characters, imperfect life, unlikable but with some redeeming qualities or moments, 3/5.

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Dancing in the Dark by Maureen Lee

Dancing in the Dark by Maureen Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 448

Publisher - Orion books

Source -

Blurb from Goodreads

A brilliantly compelling Liverpool saga following the lives of two women - three generations apart.

Millie Cameron is not at all pleased when she finds herself obliged to sort through the belongings of her aunt Flo, who has recently died. She hardly knew her aunt and besides, she has her own career to think about. But when she arrives at Flo's basement flat, Millie's interest is awakened.

As she sorts through her aunt's collection of photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings she finds herself embarking on a journey - a journey to a past which includes a lost lover and a secret child.

Picking through the tangled web of Flo's life, Millie makes the startling discovery that all the threads lead to herself...


My Review

First thing to say guys is the book features domestic abuse & violence towards children, not overly graphic as some books. The opening chapter is from the wean's point of view as they know what is coming, whilst it isn't gratuitous or depth of details, Lee writes the character's fear & words so authentically it is just worth an fyi. It reverts back to and has lasting reach as the children are adults, one being the main character and it has shaped how she is as an adult, her issues with relationships and letting anyone get close. Now, from nowhere she finds out her estranged auntie has died and she has to go and sort her house and belongings. What starts off as a reluctant chore soon becomes life changing for Millie. We flip from present with Millie to the past with Flo and learn about her life, mixed in and happening during war time.

Whilst the characters are overly loveable and warming, Millie does go through quite the journey of personal growth and finding herself by learning about her aunt. There are some very shady decisions/behaviours/relationships throughout and my God I wanted to slap a few people. The book deals with some dark topics and unsavoury, infidelity, domestic abuse, manipulation, unwed mother and what can happen (this was actually really sad) and how choices of the past can last throughout your whole life. It is hard to give too much heads up as we don't do spoilers and we would be venturing into that if we go further.

I liked Flo, she had a bit of a unique way of thinking especially when she decides what she can do to help the war! I liked her though, she got taken advantage of, people who should have been there for her weren't and she got done dirty more than once, I would have liked to have hugged her, poor soul.

It is a book centred heavily on family, family dynamics, relationships, secrets, lies cause and effect to name but a few. This is my second read by Lee and I have I think six more on the tbrm, if you want to leave you life for a little while and get caught up in la scandalosa of others this is for you, 4/5.

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Crave by J R Ward

Crave by J.R. Ward
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Pages - 454

Publisher - Piatkus

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Seven deadly sins. Seven souls that must be saved. One more no-holds-barred battle between a fallen angel with a hardened heart and a demon with everything to lose.

Isaac Rothe is a black ops soldier with a dark past and a grim future. The target of an assassin, he finds himself behind bars, his fate in the hands of his gorgeous public defender Grier Childe. His hot attraction to her can only lead to trouble—and that's before Jim Heron tells him his soul is in danger. Caught up in a wicked game with the demon who shadows Jim, Isaac must decide whether the soldier in him can believe that true love is the ultimate weapon against evil.



My Review

Jim Heron is still coming to grips with his new found status, learning his "powers" and trying to do his best in the fight for souls to save humanity. With his helpers (Adrian & Eddie) they have their new target to save, Isaac Rothe, prev black ops and now fighting for money he finds himself jailed, a beautiful/powerful attorney assigned to him and being hunted by an assassin with heavy duty power behind them. Torn between his feelings and keeping her safe, Isaac tries to flee but his defender won't walk away, she is like a dog with a bone.

The book has so much going on, good vs evil, humanity, human weakness, evil, angels, she devil demon, Isaac being targeted by some serious professional bad guys but so much is connected. I think that is the thing with Ward, the writing is carved and designed to pull you in and even, dare I say, feel a bit of sadness for the baddy?

As with Ward's books there are adult spicy scenes so if you are new to the books fyi. We follow Jim and co trying to save the world with very little guidance and also get to hear from the evil one alongside Isaac as he tries to get through one day at a time. He has done and seen some badness in his time but Isaac isn't a bad guy.

I liked this one I didn't love it, I felt like I was missing a huge part, like are we going to see any of these souls/characters being fought for again? If not we are abruptly cut from their story, like stuff i really just getting going and then the book ends. There are a fair few of the books in this series but is it just each book is their story then done? If so I do feel a wee bit lacking. The tension between Isaac and Grier (his lawyer) is good, spicy if a bit I will, I won't I will I won't ish but still, I thought Isaac deserved a break. Matthias and Devina, hearing from them was good/riveting and would have liked more. Jim I hope we get more time spent on him because for being the chosen one he is still a bit in the dark about what he is able to do and not although his pals are a bit more versed in what they do. Defo still got questions but I did like it, just not love, 3.5/5.

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Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith

Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 295

Publisher - Abacus

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

It's not that poor Bertie Pollock is wishing his life away, but having anticipated his 7th birthday for so long he's now longing to be 18. But there's a lot of living to do and Bertie isn't alone amongst the residents of Scotland Street in trying to do just that - with mixed fortunes.


My Review


Aw wee Bertie, all he wants it to be a little boy and do all the things wee boys get to to but his mum, Irene is a total nightmare. Bertie is smart there is no denying it but Irene has him enrolled in activities she is interested in rather than the wean. Even what he wears, gifts nothing is really with him in mind but it is done with comedic turns on it. Well finally Bertie gets a wee bit of freedom in this book and Irene papped out the picture for a little while (I am looking forward to the next book to see how that plays out).

The series focuses on the characters that live in 44 Scotland street, their daily troubles/activities/interactions and of course Cyril the dog with the gold tooth. This book is more Bertie centric and we finally see him getting that most coveted gift that every wee boy wants. If you haven't read the other book I don't know if you would get as much out of this one, I actually really liked this because I have invested in the others and know all of what they have went though up to this point.

Antonia is back for a visit and has a nun with her, I forgot how pompous she is but it brings another flavour and the nun, whilst only in small parts blended well, you do feel for Angus and Domenica. You do laugh and snigger at these books, it is absolutely like a soap opera or I often say like Friends but an across the range of ages, Bertie and his wee school classmates, Bruce the beautiful narcissist, Pat has a love interest - will this one turn out better than her past escapades. Matthew the triplets, au pairs dramas, is Big Lou finally getting a happy ever after or more dramas.

Very easy reads and I do look forward to seeing what they group are up to next, whilst we do see/hear from all the characters some are more focused on in each book, this one is Bertie's time to shine, 4/5. I have already ordered the next book in the series.

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