Book Review / The Chamber by John Grisham

In the corridors of Chicago's top law firm:

Twenty -six-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case.

Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison:

Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances -- except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson.

While the executioners prepare the gas chamber, while the protesters gather and the TV cameras wait, Adam has only days, hours, minutes to save his client. For between the two men is a chasm of shame, family lies, and secrets -- including the one secret that could save Sam Cayhall's life... or cost Adam his.

Published:     2005
Publisher:  Doubleday
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

The one thing I am rediscovering that I absolutely love about John Grisham is that he has the writing power to make me thing.  In every single book I have read so far there has always been a issue, whether moral or something else, that has made me thing for hours if not days after finishing the book.  This book was no exception to that.   There are so many aspects to think about, some of which I won't be able to tell you about as that would spoil but what I can say is you have this klansman who is on death row for murder in respect of a bombing and you have a lawyer who wants to defend that person.  Why would someone want to do that?  He has his reasons, that's for sure, but it was certainly interesting to follow Adam and watch what he does. 

This book was written so beautifully that even I had was hoping that things all worked out for the best for Sam, despite what he had done.  After finishing the book, I am glad about the decisions that were made at the end of the book and completely agree about it. 

Series Review / Night School by CJ Daughtery

Allie Sheridan’s world is falling apart. Her brother’s run away from home. Her parents ignore her. And she’s just been arrested.

Again.

This time her parents have had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to boarding school, far from her London friends.

But at Cimmeria Academy, Allie is soon caught up in the strange activities of a secret group of elite students.

When she’s attacked late one night the incident sets off a chain of increasingly violent events. As the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, she finds out that nothing at Cimmeria is what it seems to be.

And that she is not who she thought she was.

Published:      2012
Publisher:  Atom
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Books 1 to 5, Night School
Source:  Owned
 

MY REVIEW

In the same theme as many of the books I am reading this year, this was a series that has been on my TBR for AGES....  I had read the first book in the series back in 2013 just when it had come out and remembered that I loved it but never got around to reading the rest.  I am really glad that I decided to pick this up again.  I had not remembered much from reading book 1 previously so it really was like delving into this for the first time.

I found the writing very addictive.  I was always left wanting to read just a bit more, even when I was struggling to keep my eyes open late at night.  Although there are quite a few characters in this story, the author has done a very good job at making each and every character rememberable and either likeable or unlikeable, whatever the case may be.  However, I do have to say that I found the main character, Allie, to be very childish and very selfish in parts of this series.  She was going to do what she wanted to do, even if she thinks she is doing the right thing, without really thinking it through or thinking about anyone else.  I found that highly irritating.

In places I did feel that the story dragged and certainly felt that this might have been even more action packed had the story been a 3 or 4 book series rather than 5.

Author Interview / Karen King (The Bridesmaid's Dilemma)

Every summer has a story... Fun-loving travel rep Jess doesn't want to be chief bridesmaid at her snooty cousin's wedding, but it will cause a family feud if she refuses. She doesn't want to fall in love either, but when a raucous stag party arrives at her Majorcan hotel, Jess hits it off instantly with best man, Eddie. A summer romance is exactly what commitment-phobe Jess needs and, as the stag-do draws to a close, so does the holiday fling. She has no intentions of carrying on the summer fun but when Eddie turns up again, Jess is faced with a big dilemma. Will this bridesmaid get the happy-ever-after she never knew she wanted...

 AUTHOR INTERVIEW

If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

There are lots of authors I admire but I’m not sure I could work with them, I’d be so in awe of their talent I think I’d feel everything I wrote was rubbish.

What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

I moved to Spain in November last year and no longer have a typical working day. I write when and where I can. Some mornings I work on my laptop at 6 am, sitting up in bed, then I might work in the studio room on the upstairs terrace which is my official office, afternoons you might find me in my husband’s shed, or sitting by the pool with my laptop in a cardboard box to shade the screen from the sun, and evenings I often work on the table in the corner of the lounge. Some days I hardly find time to write at all, other days I will write all day and well into the evening – with the occasional pool break.

 

What is the hardest part of the writing for you? 

I always find setting and description the most difficult to write. I find that writing character, action and dialogue flows quite easily, but I really have to stop and think when I write setting and description. I think it may be because of all my earlier work writing for teen and children’s magazines where the word limit was too tight to allow for description, the picture told it all. When I’ve written my first draft I go back over it and add more description and visualization to the scenes

When and why did you first start writing?

Although I’ve always written stories and poems it wasn’t until I had three young children that I started sending my work out to magazines. After a while Jackie magazine accepted an article of mine and asked me to write more. I wrote features and photo stories for them, then for other teen magazines such as Loving and Patches. Just after my fourth child was born I started writing regularly for children’s comics such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Winnie the Pooh, I then wrote children’s books too and about ten years ago started writing YA and romance novels.

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

I’ve often admired the travel reps at the resorts I’ve holidayed in, they work hard and play hard. I thought a story involving a character working as a travel rep would be really interesting. They have to cope with so many different customers, including stag and hen parties, and there might be times when they have a summer romance with holiday-makers. When my husband, Dave, booked us a third anniversary trip to Majorca a couple of years ago I thought that would make a great setting, popped in a few complications to the story, and off I went.

Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I love reading but don’t always find time to read as much as I want to. My kindle is loaded with books waiting for me to read. I’m a big fan of Mandy Baggot and am looking forward to reading her ‘Desperately Seeking Summer’. I also love Sophie Kinsella and Sharon Shinn. I mainly read romance novels but sometimes I’ll read a thriller, I thought ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn was fantastic, also ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ by S.J. Watson. My all time favourite though is ‘Gone With The Wind’ – what an epic tale with fantastic characters.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers? 

Don’t give up on your dream. Keep writing, rewriting and sending off your work. And don’t forget to make time for reading, reading is the foundation for writing.

 

Author Interview / Shelly Reuben (My Mostly Happy Life)

1.  If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

If I could work with any other author, it would be O. Henry.  Partly because I learned so much from him about structuring a story, and partly because I would feel honored to be in his presence. Mostly, though,I would enjoy watching his face when he smiled or frowned; and I would love to look into his eyes when he formulated a story or a thought.

2.  What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

If I am on a deadline, I get up at 5:00 a.m., usually make it to my desk by 7:00 or 8:00 a.m., and I work until I run out of steam.  If I am making my own schedule, I don't get to my desk until about 10:00 a.m. and, with a break for lunch and running errands, I will work until 5:00 or 7:00 p.m.

I have a small office with windows on all three sides.  But (wisely) my computer is on a desk facing the one wall.  I write my newspaper columns on a legal pad in bed, and I edit hard copy of books and columns on a swivel chair in the living room with a lap desk and an erasable ball point pen.

3.  What is the hardest part of the writing for you?  

After I come up with the idea for a story, the hardest part is working out the main conflict (who is the bad guy and what is his motive?) and figuring out all of the plot twists.  

4.  When and why did you first start writing?

I decided to become a writer when I was 17 years old, and realized that one had to actually DO something when he or she grew up, and not just spend their entire lives reading.  It made sense to me that if I became a writer, then I could spend my entire life reading.  So I did!!!

5.  How did you come up with the idea for your book?

The idea for My Mostly Happy Life: Autobiography of a Climbing Tree just popped into my head.  I thought, "Wouldn't it be interesting if I could write a story about trees who loved and needed children so much that they would die if they were deprived of human contact. Then, I actually saw trees in front of a library in Unadilla, New York that looked exactly like the climbing trees in my mind (photos below and attached). It was then that I decided to have the book illustrated.

6.  Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I am an avid reader.  Right now I am reading a biography of Edna Ferber and rereading Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute.

7.  Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Two pieces of advice.  One.  Keep writing.  Don't write your first book or story and decide that it is the greatest piece of literature every written.  No matter how good it is, practice does make perfect.  Think of great pianists and violinists,  and how they practice hours a day to get good enough to perform in public.  It's the same with writing.  Each story will be better than the last and make you a better writer, and over time, you will develop skills worthy of a professional.  

Two.  Find an editor you can respect, and listen to him or her.  Editing is a valid, important, and skilled profession, and good editors know exactly what they are doing. Often, when writers start out (even seasoned pros are guilty of this), we over-write.  From a good editor, we can learn that "less is more."