I've lost track of the number of times I've written about Julia Golding's books - the Cat Royal series, the Peril trilogy, the Dragonfly trilogy, the Darcie Lock series ...And now, The Tigers in the Tower. I would not say it is my favourite work by Julia Golding - not even close - but I did enjoy it!Sahira, the protagonist of the story, is a little spitfire. She might be an orphan, but she's not going to be a meek little lamb, giving everything up to the greedy Mr Pence. Other adults try to be peacemakers, paying Mr Pence to calm troubled waters, but Sahira is riled up with the injustice of it all.However, as time rolls by, one hope after another is stripped away. How long can her temper and spirit keep her going? The bullies aren't just children; they're adults. And these adults wield power over Sahira's life. Even as the young girl makes friends, she learns that her … [Read more...]
Ragged Wolf
I'm home. Coronavirus. Twisted ankle.My instinct is to sit with my laptop and work all day, but I know I will be exhausted if I do that. So, what can I do? I'm afraid of running out of books (yes, really) and I ration them, until I remember that I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription.Ever since Duckbill was acquired, though, I haven't used Kindle Unlimited much because Duckbill books aren't there any longer. Halfheartedly, I checked if my favourite writers had anything new there, and ... yes!So much for rationing my reading, though, I read Ragged Wolf practically all day until I finished it.Ragged Wolf is the third in the Dragonfly trilogy, and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the rest of the series (which, perhaps, it's time to reread ...?) The protagonists in the three books are not the same, and I love that. The characters we get to know in one book are around, but … [Read more...]
Catching Up: MG and YA Books
So many wonderful, wonderful books and so little time! Here are a few middle-grade and young adult books I read in the last couple of months.Gorilla DawnI know a little about gorillas being endangered because I began to read up bits and pieces about it when I saw articles linking the fate of gorillas to the largescale use of palm oil. But even in the articles I read, I had no idea about coltan and its use in every electronic device we use. The threat that mining poses to gorilla habitat is real and frightening.(And so, first of all, all those who've been telling me I need to get a new phone, read this book.)I read Gill Lewis's White Dolphin years ago, but it stayed fresh in my mind because it is such a powerful story. I also had a fan girl moment recently when Gill Lewis retweeted a review I posted of Me and Mister P. Sky Hawk has been on my … [Read more...]
On Rereading
As a child, I thought rereading books was a H*U*G*E waste of time. I devoured books, especially Enid Blytons, and later, Roald Dahls. I read the odd Richmal Crompton, went on to the classics - loved Five Children and It, pushed myself through others, left still others incomplete.But one thing I rarely did was reread. I did not have the time. Too many books, too little time, I kept telling myself.Then, at some stage, I realised that reading was not really a race. It was okay if I did not read every single good book in the world. At times, the comfort of a well-loved book was preferable to a foray into unknown territory, so I reread my Malory Towers and my Roald Dahls. I was growing older, so I read and reread Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart and Dick Francis and Madeleine Brent. And eventually, I made my peace with "wasting" time rereading books I loved.Now, rereading a … [Read more...]
The Diamond of Drury Lane
I love Julia Golding. There were a couple that I didn't end up writing about - The Glass Swallow and Ringmaster (Darcie Lock Book 1), but there were others that I devoured and simply had to gush about. Here are four that come to mind:Empty Quarter (Girl on the Run Book 2)DragonflyCat's CradleThe Middle PassageAnd now, The Diamond of Drury Lane, which begins with the wonderful lines:Reader, you are set to embark on an adventure about one hidden treasure, two bare-knuckle boxers, three enemies and four hundred and thirty-eight rioters. It is told by an ignorant and prejudiced author - me."Cat Royal - orphan, adventurer, actressThe Diamond of Drury Lane is the first of Cat Royal's adventures, and it's delicious.As a reader, characters are everything to me. If I fall in love with the character, I'm much more likely to fall in love … [Read more...]
Empty Quarter (Girl on the Run Book 2)
I sat at Coimbatore train station, book in hand."What happened?" asked my sister, looking at my face.I grinned. "I'm inside this book." I added, quickly, "Will you keep a lookout for the train? I may not notice when it pulls in."That's how Empty Quarter was.As with Cat's Cradle, I jumped straight into the series without reading the first book. It was simply wonderful. What impressed me most of all is how rounded each character is. Christopher Lock is the perfect combination of grandfather and career-obsessed, calculating official. I love Darcie Lock, her stupidities and her beauty.Empty Quarter is the perfect combination of humour, anticipation and excitement. Reading it, I realised how effortlessly the story moves from up to down to up to down, pulling the reader through all the twists and turns in the plot. The confused mixture of child and adult in … [Read more...]
Cat’s Cradle
Sometimes, especially when you read a lot of different kinds of books that you've picked up based solely on the cover, one book jumps out and takes you by surprise. It makes you read on and on, and it makes you chuckle even when you are in a public place and ought to be behaving decorously.Cat's Cradle was exactly like that. I shouted with laughter, giggled and grinned. I was drawn into the story of Cat and her search for her family, even though this is the sixth book in the series, and I have not read any of the others.I've read The Glass Swallow (which I enjoyed thoroughly) and Dragonfly (which I quite enjoyed), and I picked up Cat's Cradle a little sceptically because it is not the first of the series, and because I was not sure if it would be my kind of book. It was.Cat Royal - orphan, adventuress, actress - is a sparkling character, leaping out of the pages and into my … [Read more...]
Dragonfly
Some pacy books are formulaic, and this one is one of them.Prince must marry Princess - it's a political alliance. Prince and Princess hate each other; they have all kinds of adventures; then they love each other; then they get married.This fits in exactly.Yet, Dragonfly warmed me. There are some books that, like Disney movies, touch you even if you can tell, scene by scene, what's going to happen.Tashi, the young princess, grows to be a person, not a white painted princess. The idea of romance across cultures is amusing, inviting and heart-warming.Yet, one idea in the book that truly startled me was the realisation of how easy it is for a young girl (princess or otherwise) to feel guilty when she does not return a suitor's love. That, I think, is what made my eyes widen. Not the love story, not the elaborate courtship, none of it. Yet, when Tashi wants to reject Merl, but … [Read more...]