Monday, October 31, 2016

dnf review: tell the truth, shame the devil, by melina marchetta

Title: Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil
Author: Melina Marchetta
Genre: Mystery
Publication date: October 11, 2016

Bashir “Bish” Ortley is a London desk cop. Almost over it. Still not dealing with the death of his son years ago, as well as the break-up of his marriage. Across the channel, a summer bus tour, carrying a group of English teenagers is subject to a deadly bomb attack, killing four of the passengers and injuring a handful of others. Bish’s daughter is one of those on board.

The suspect is 17 year old Violette LeBrac whose grandfather was responsible for a bombing that claimed the lives of dozens of people fourteen years ago; and whose mother, Noor, has been serving a life sentence for the part she was supposed to have played in the attack. As Bish is dragged into the search for the missing Violette, he finds himself reluctantly working with Noor LeBrac and her younger brother, Jimmy Sarraf.

And the more he delves into the lives of the family he helped put away, the more Bish realizes that they may have got it wrong all those years ago, and that truth wears many colours. Especially when it comes to the teenagers on board the recent bus bombing. Including his daughter.

Tell the truth. Shame the devil. Bish can’t get Violette LeBrac’s words out of his head. But what he may get is some sort of peace with his own past as the worlds of those involved in two bombings, years apart, collide into the journey of his life. -Goodreads

DNF at page 144 

Melina Marchetta is one of my favorite authors; this is no secret. I read and adored all of her contemporary young adult novels and have her fantasy series next on my to-read list. But, for many reasons, I simply could not get invested in Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil. It pains me to have to set the book aside, it really does, but I just cannot force myself to continue. It was good at first, promising, and the synopsis quite intriguing, but my interest was unfortunately suspended for a bulk of the 144 pages I read, due to a multitude of reasons that I shall go into. 

Friday, October 7, 2016

bookshelf video tour

Today, I have a little video I made that gives you a tour of my bookshelf! Please excuse the low quality, as I used my iPhone. And this is my first time playing around with iMovie, so I probably made tons of rookie mistakes when editing. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!

The song I used was Milk and Cookies, by Melanie Martinez.


Tuesday, October 4, 2016

mini mini reviews!

Today, I have some mini mini-reviews on some books I've recently read from a colorful assortment of genres. These are for the books which I don't have enough to say to warrant an entire review, hence the extra mini, but I do have something to comment on (as should be expected from me, giving my opinion even when no one asks is one of my talents.) The three books I will be reviewing--if you can even call it that--are all unique in their own ways, and I highly recommend each and every one of them.


Title: My Lady Jane
Authors: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Publication date: June 7, 2016
Genre: Historical fiction
The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.
At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane is about to become the Queen of England. -Goodreads