Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE SAPPHIRE LEGEND by @ELTenenbaum #Fantasy

We spent a wonderful summer break last year at Whitecliff Bay. It was late August and the weather was lovely. The sea was even warm enough for the kids to swim in. As I’m preparing to send my son off to the Isle of Wight for his PGL school trip, I thought I’d go for a little weekend wander around the beautiful island.

White Cliff Bay

One of my favourite places on the Isle of Wight is Shanklin Chine. This gorgeous ravine has been open to the public since 1817. It has a drop to sea level of 105ft. It’s an inspiring place to visit and I plan to use the location in at least one of my future books.

The Chine leads you down to a beautiful beach.

I was able to capture a couple of good shots of a local buzzard.

Finally, some beach art and a gull.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weekend wander.

#Wordlesswednesday – A few #macro #photos with my new phone

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

#Audio #Bookreview The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins #thriller

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

This is my second attempt at audio books and I’m happy to say that I did enjoy this experience a lot more. Now the book is finished I find myself missing the times I would put it on whilst cooking the dinner, loading the dishwasher etc.

Title – The Girl on the Train

Author – Paula Hawkins

Book Type – Audio

Genre – Psychological thriller

Length – 11 hours

Narrated by Clare Corbett, India Fisher, Louise Brealey.

Blurb

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

First Thoughts

At first it felt to me as if the story was told in diary form and I wasn’t sure I would get into it. However, I soon found the first person narrative compelled me to keep listening.

Characters

The three narrators voices were well suited to the characters and brought them to life. I soon began to understand that each of the characters were unreliable. They’ve all done things that make they hard to like, yet I still found myself enjoying the story and wanting to unravel the mess these women had gotten into.

Style

It is told in first person from the three different characters points of view. It also switches back in time to a year before this book starts – but the timeline and character VP are always explained at the start of each new section so you don’t feel lost at any point. Switching VP’s made for a compelling read / listen.

Final Thoughts

I had not listened to the hype around this book, nor did I know what it was about when I started listening to it. I did guess the outcome quite early on, but there were plenty of red herrings to keep me wondering if I had made the right guess. I was glad to be proved right and I didn’t feel cheated by the conclusion.

I really miss listening to the story – I think I have the audio book bug!

Recommend to those who enjoy psychological thrillers.

My rating – 4 stars

***

What do you think of the book and all the hype?

Are you looking forward to the film coming out later this year? I am. I think Emily Blunt will make the perfect Rachel Watson. I don’t know why it had to be relocated to America though.

#Fridaybookshare – The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price C.L. Schneider #Fantasy

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Friday Book Share is created by Shelley Wilson. Check out her site for the rules. Join in and have fun discovering new books to read.

Another Friday as crept up on me and this week I would like to recommend a book that has been on my Goodreads currently reading shelf since March. As soon as I finish last week’s recommended book Thief’s Magic, I will be starting on this one.

First line of the book.

Bodies pressed in on me from all sides.

Recruit fans by adding the book blurb.

Ian Troy is one of the Shinree, a fallen people with an inherent addiction to magic. Scorned and reviled for the deadly side of their spells, the Shinree are bred as slaves. Their magic is suppressed by drugs and used only as it serves the purposes of the other races. Descended from a long line of soldiers, Ian is conscripted into the Rellan army and made to fight in their longstanding conflict against the ruthless Langorian invaders. The downfall of Rella imminent, Ian goes against orders and turns to the Crown of Stones, an ancient Shinree relic of untold power. Ignorant of its true purpose, Ian uses the crown to end the war, and pays a terrible price. A decade later, still tortured by the aftermath of that day, Ian lives as a bounty hunter in self-imposed exile. Having renounced his magical heritage, he curbs his obsession with a steady stream of wine and regret. He struggles to put it all behind him, until a fateful encounter with a pretty assassin brings Ian’s past crashing into the present. Targeted by a rogue Shinree, and a ruthless old enemy, Ian is forced to use magic again. His deadly addiction is rekindled and his life of isolation is brought to a swift end. With the land he gave up everything to protect once more in jeopardy, and his people’s future at stake, Ian becomes embroiled in a violent race for control of the Crown of Stones. To save the realms and those he cares for, Ian must embrace the thing he fears most: his own power.

Introduce the main character using only three words.

(I have to confess I don’t know him well enough yet to comment)

Delightful design (add the cover image of the book).

Audience appeal (who would enjoy reading this book?)

Fantasy fans

Your favourite line/scene.

The urgency in her voice tore at me. Aylagar was my Queen. She was my commander and my lover. The ground had settled all across the field. Weary bodies were rising up, raising their weapons to resume the killing. She could be in trouble.

But as I stared at the ring of vibrating, coloured stones in my grip, I knew what I had. And I realised I had no choice but to betray her.

Check it out on Goodreads

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday Film #Review – Legend (Tom Hardy)

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Film – Legend

Date – 2015

Length – 2 hours 12 minutes.

Cert 18

When I first heard Tom Hardy was doing a film about the Kray Twins and playing both Reggie and Ronny, my first thought was why? The second was how can he possibly pull it off?

I decided there and then that I didn’t want to watch it – even though I think Tom Hardy is an excellent actor.

However, the husband talked me around and I settled down with a glass of wine, fully expecting to hate the film. I don’t like gangster films and I don’t usually like films set in the 1960s. I’m a superhero, fantasy, thriller and comedy fan.

Legend took me by surprise. It was sometimes funny, sometimes gruesome, and there were touches of emotion that I wasn’t expecting. Tom Hardy did a brilliant job creating the two characters. You totally believed there were two actors playing the parts of the Kray twins.

I rate the film 4.5 stars and recommend it to everyone even if, like me, you don’t normally like gangster movies.

Now I have a craving for lemon sherbert (if you’ve seen the film you’ll understand).

Have you seen it? Have I persuaded you to give it a go?

#WordlessWednesday – The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall #photography

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Visions of Zarua Blog Tour Schedule #WWWblogs #fantasy

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

Last week I put out a call for help to set up my own blog tour. I’m overwhelmed with the support I received and couldn’t be happier to announce that I’ve drawn up a schedule of sites I will be visiting during the 2 week tour.

Here are the dates and links to the sites if you want to check out the lovely bloggers who’ve agreed to get involved.

Visions of Zarua Blog Tour

Monday 27th June – betweenthelinesbookblog Promo Post

Tuesday 28th June – rosieamber Review

Wednesday 29th June – bookwraiths Indie Wednesday feature, guest post & giveaway

Thursday 30th June – aliasfaithrivens Review & Interview

Friday 1st July – TheTattoedBookGeek Novel extract & guest post

Saturday 2nd July – teripolen Promo post

Sunday 3rd July – alinefromabook Review

Monday 4th July – barbedwords Review & Q&A session

Tuesday 5th July – baubtaub Review, interview and giveaway

Wednesday 6th July – shelleywilson Promo post

Thursday 7th July – jenanita01 Review

Friday 8th July – TBC spookymrsgreen Guest post/promo

Saturday 9th July – thehappymeerkatreviews review/post

Sunday 10th July – To celebrate the last day of the tour I hope to have two posts going out;

– color me in Cyanide and Cherry Review/post

– Luccigray – TBC

(Helen Jones journeytoambeth hopes to post a review at some point during this two week tour.)

***

Exciting isn’t it! Please feel free to join in and comment, and if you want to post your own review during the blog tour, I’d be very pleased to have you involved.

Note – This is the starting line up and things may change, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for agreeing to help me. It has been a really uplifting experience and I look forward to starting my tour in a few weeks time.

Stacking the Shelves 1 – May Summary #Tuesdaybookblog

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Suzanne Rogerson Author

This is my first time of joining in the Stacking the Shelves meme tynga’s Reviews. I hope to take part at the end of each month and share all the books I have won, bought and downloaded for free. May has been a good month for books;

I’ve won 4 books in competitions!

Caramel Hearts recipe book – Elizabeth Rose Murray – ebook

The Wrong Kind of Clouds – Amanda Fleet – signed paperback

Rise of the Sparrows – Sarina Langa – Signed paperback

Eligible – Curtis Sittenfeld – paperback (won via Sun Perks)

I’ve also had a book buying spree on the kindle over the last week or so.

Hills and Valleys Bk3 Ambeth Chronicles – Helen Jones

The Runaway Bridesmaid – Daisy James

Rise of the Sparrows – Sarina Langer (still happy to have won a signed paperback as well!)

The Sapphire Lengend: Part II – E.L. Tenenbaum (See my review of bk 1 here)

Wildflowerbay: Part One – Rachel Lucas

Summer at Rose Island (bk 3) – Holly Martin

Distress Signals – Catherine Ryan Howard (See her guest post here)

Mud Maid – Sandra Horn & Karen Popham

I downloaded a couple of free ebooks

The Cutting Room – Julliane Hoffman

Flawless – Jan Moran

***

There is a perfect mix of fantasy, thrillers and romance in this selection. I still have a big TBR pile and don’t know when I’ll get a chance to read all these fantastic books. But I will review them when I can, so watch this space.

Have you read any of these books, would you recommend any of them? Or has my list inspired you to purchase any new books?