Malasz

Dear Readers It's drizzling outside, which totally matches my #currentmood. Pigs in blankets, all the mince pies and a festive Baileys or five are distant memories. You know the drill - it's January. Everyone's banning booze (terrible idea) or cutting carbs (impossible). To add to the misery pile, my plans to seduce the man of my dreams at the stroke of midnight flopped spectacularly.  I'm Izzy. I don't just need a New Year resolution, I need a whole new life. And I need YOU. My dreary life is about to get a total makeover - it's my 'Year of Saying Yes'. And this is where you come in. It's up to you to #DareIzzy. I'm saying yes to your challenges, no matter how nuts, adventurous or wild they are. The sky's the limit - I'm at your mercy, readers!  Wish me luck. I have a feeling I'm going to need it.  Love Izzy x   I found myself only one book away from meeting my yearly goodreads target and I knew I wouldn't have time to finish a f...

Fiction Making certain we’re not certain THE PEOPLE OF THE BROKEN NECK By Silas Dent Zobal 352 pp. Unbridled Books Reviewed by Dennis C. Rizzo Shell shock. Battle fatigue. It’s had many names over the years. Now we know it as PTSD. Silas Dent Zobal peels back the layers of Dominick Sawyer, ex-Ranger, ex-husband, and father to two tweens whom he is afraid of losing. The People of the Broken Neck brings us into a desperate struggle of one person to protect his family. From whom or what remains uncertain until the last chapter. Zobal builds strong characters and gives each enough instability to create doubt in our minds. We might see the distancing and sparring between son, Clarke, and father as a natural component of teen years. We might see the dreams and nightmares of the daughter, Kingsley, as part of the uncertainty she is facing. We might look at Dominick and see a scared, yet protective parent – or a deeply disturbed veteran steeped in paranoia. Charlie, the diligent FBI agent, ple...

The gods are dead, killed two hundred years ago. With their destruction the moon split apart, the sun dwindled and the land was devastated. Civilisation has re-emerged from the carnage, but twisted creatures still prowl the savage Wildlands between the city-states. In the skies above the city of Vasini, a falling star, a fragment of the dead moon goddess Serindra, heads to earth. In the Palace district, Dame Vittoria Emerson, darling of the city, has been found dead. As Captain Marcus Fox of the Inspectorate hunts the killer, Dr. Elizabeth Reid searches for the remnants of Serindra determined to make sure the poisonous quicksilver it contains is not used. With Vittoria's death threatening to draw the city's political elite into a war of assassins, Fox and Reid must rush to expose the secrets that lie within Vasini before they tear the city-state apart. The cover looks like a photograph of a museum piece. While accurate, I don't believe it's enough of a draw to pull in a...

Hollywood movies are Beth's passion. She hopes her life will always be filled with 'movie moments', where things like serendipity and fate happen every day. Her boyfriend Danny has always been the embodiment of her perfect Hollywood hero - though after seven years together the initial silver-screen romance has settled into something more predictable.  And then, one morning at work, Beth receives an anonymous delivery of a take-out coffee cup with a cryptic message suggesting a meeting at Tiffany's. From there, she is given a series of clues directing her to some of NYC's most popular landmarks - a treasure hunt using unique rom-com-related prompts perfect for a movie-lover like Beth to decipher. And Beth is forced to wonder: has Danny realised their relationship needs a boost - or could it be that charming new work colleague Ryan, with his intense gaze, flirtatious smile and almost encyclopaedic movie knowledge, wants to sweep her off her feet? And how would she fee...

Nonfiction Heart and soul and guts WHISPERIN’ BILL ANDERSON: An Unprecedented Life in Country Music By Bill Anderson and Peter Cooper 298 pp. The University of Georgia Press Reviewed by Diane Diekman Bill Anderson, 79, is the only songwriter in history who has written songs that charted in seven consecutive decades. From “City Lights” by Ray Price in 1958 to “Country” by Mo Pitney in 2015, his music continues to thrive. With the help of renowned country music historian Peter Cooper. he tells the story of his music and its place in his life. Anderson was 19 and beginning his music career at a small radio station when a stifling hot August night drove him out of his hotel room and up to the roof with his guitar. “This particular night there wasn’t a cloud in the sky,” he writes.  I began looking up at what seemed like a million stars above and down on what few lights there were in Commerce, Georgia, and I wrote:   ‘The bright array of city lights, as far as I can see / The great...

Sarah Buhrman’s Too Wyrd offers a welcome twist on the conventional fantasy protagonist who embarks on a quest.  As the story begins, Nicola Crandall is plucked from the comfort of home by a late-night summons for help, and she readily places her life on hold to combat a supernatural menace. But in this urban fantasy set in Indianapolis, the supernatural exists side by side with real-world problems that take the greatest toll on the most vulnerable.  So in addition to confronting otherworldly abominations, Nicola comes face to face with regular people scrabbling to survive on the fringes of society, and proves to be their staunchest defender. On the whole, her capacity for empathy and inclusiveness is what makes her a compelling hero, more so than her courage or resourcefulness when under threat. The trouble begins when Nicola’s friend Joseph arrives at her door with worrisome news. Her half-sister Muriel, who has spent time living on the street, has been taken in by a cult t...

Today it is my stop on the blog tour for The Food of Love which is Amanda Prowse new release that everyone is currently talking about, I am thrilled to be sharing my review with you all today.   Freya Braithwaite knows she is lucky. Nineteen years of marriage to a man who still warms her soul and two beautiful teenage daughters to show for it: confident Charlotte and thoughtful Lexi. Her home is filled with love and laughter. But when Lexi’s struggles with weight take control of her life, everything Freya once took for granted falls apart, leaving the whole family with a sense of helplessness that can only be confronted with understanding, unity and, above all, love. In this compelling and heart-wrenching new work by bestselling author Amanda Prowse, one ordinary family tackles unexpected difficulties and discovers that love can find its way through life’s darkest moments. Amanda Prowse is back with another poignant read that will pull at the heart strings and stay on your mind l...

Nonfiction Fusing of psyches THE FUTURE TENSE OF JOY By Jessica Teich 277 pp. Picador Reviewed by Sue Ellis The Future Tense of Joy is an engaging account of author Jessica Teich’s long journey to emotional well being. She begins by describing her over-reaction to her eldest daughter’s bid for more personal freedom, how it brought up memories of herself at the same age. To a past, she writes, that would not stay put. At sixteen, Teich had been drawn into a secret and abusive relationship with a man at the dance studio where she took lessons. She never told anyone, and had never come to terms with what happened to her or the fact that her parents failed to protect her. Early on, Teich introduces a woman she refers to as Lacey, a stranger she read about and whose life, according to the obituary, nearly paralleled her own. Both women were highly educated, both Rhodes scholars, and both appeared to have the world by the tail. The following excerpt sums up Teich’s feelings about the simila...

Nonfiction But listen to his music I AM BRIAN WILSON: A Memoir By Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman 307 pp. Da Capo  Reviewed by Alan Goodman Brian Wilson has few peers as a prolific and influential Rock And Roll songwriter. As the front man and driving creative inspiration for the Beach Boys he is responsible – in total or partially – for such R & R musical icons as “California Girls,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Surfin’,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ USA,” and “Surfer Girl.”   In 1988, Wilson and the Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2000 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2007 he was honored by the Kennedy Center for a lifetime contribution to the performing arts. A biopic film about his life won several wards at the Toronto Film Festival in 2014. All in all, not too shabby a track record for any ten musicians, let alone one single person. And yet, Brian Wilson is revealed in I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir , as barely ...

Nonfiction Dreaming of home THE TRAIN TO CRYSTAL CITY:  FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America's 
Only Family Internment Camp During World War II By Jan Jarboe Russell  393 pp. Scribner  Reviewed by Madison Bush Life may be like a box of chocolates, but to some American political figures, immigration is like a bowl of skittles; if three of the skittles in the bowl are poisonous, rather than risk taking a handful, we should throw the whole bowl away. Or deport them. Or detain them.   The Train to Crystal City is a non-fiction account of the last time the United States’ policy followed that mindset. During World War II, the U.S. government approved the arrest, incarceration, and internment of Japanese, German, and Italian “enemy aliens,” and their families. This book is a timely read, a reminder that fear and ignorance, even during wartime, should not excuse denying people equal protection under the law.  Not everyone will have heard of Crystal City, ...