I read this book 3 years ago but I can still remember the plot; usually, if you're a book devourer, your memory of a book becomes spotty. But that's not the case with this book! I think it's because of the overwhelming excitement and genuine love that I felt while reading this book. I loved Ty; he couldn't have been as perfect. I felt immense sadness when I finished this book. And I literally screamed when I realized there was a sequel; I'm aching to be back in the company of Ty and Gemma. 

Serafina is an odd girl, right down to her bones. She’s missing a toe on each foot, and she prowls the night, killing rats in her unofficial capacity as the Biltmore Estate Chief Rat Catcher. She skitters up drapes and tapestries, and she longs to have a true friend. One night, as she prowls around, she happens upon a man in a black cloak, who is also hunting—for children. Although Serafina tries to fight the man in the black cloak, he grabs up Clara Schuman, a guest of the Vanderbilts’, and afterwards, nothing is left of her. Serafina’s hard-working father doesn’t believe her story, but Braedan, the young nephew of the Vanderbilts, does. Together they try to find out who is under that creepy black cloak before it’s too late.

This middle-grade horror story will appeal to kids who have a special affinity to animals. The character of Serafina is particularly interesting and strong-willed, and Braedan offers a secondary male character with eccentricities of his own. Readers who enjoyed Dark Life and Rip Tide or The Crowfield Curse series may particularly enjoy this novel.

Wow- Four main themes, plus what could be a heap of short stories in one of the most innovative and original works I have read in a long time. I couldn't possible pin point this work to a genre, as the metaphysical, the fantasy, the thriller, the speculative, and the literary combine and melt into each other.

This is written on four levels of consciousness- the self disguised, the self as another, the self as omnipresent, and the self in a parallel existence.

If that sounds heavy- it isn't. Really well written books are open to most readers, not just to genre, academic and literary world toffs. This is a brilliant general readers book. I have almost never read a novel in one sitting, I am a very slow and precise line reader, but I came very close to doing so this time. Newland's vision, writing in the first person as the writer Prunella Smith, worked for me on so many different levels. I forget most books within days, sometimes less. I won't forget this one.

Sometimes a clever work like this can help readers escape the myopia of the favoured genre, and in doing so do many favours. Now, obviously one may argue that such books then fall into the trap of never really grabbing anyone. There is no answer to that, but there is no harm in trying something different. Think fusion in cuisine, mixed medium art galleries, market stall shopping, multi-themed gardens, and you will be on a suitably fluid wave to immerse yourself this book.

Once you get going you will get to the end only too soon. Yes, this is compulsive enough to collapse time, but actually it isn't a long book anyway. So don't do that skim-reading thing, but rather make sure you taste all the words as you float through. Listen to the contemplative Buddhist inside you, so as to suppress your own bit of Dita. No, nothing is required to enjoy this, nothing -ist needed at all. As for Dita- read to find out.

http://www.amazon.com/Prunella-Smith-Worlds-Within-ebook/dp/B00PMPNSIO/

“Another Life” is a murder intrigue telling the story of a family returning to rural Ireland to find a better life. But it doesn't work that way, their dream soon is destroyed by the religiosity of the mother, by a son involved with a radical religious group and by the raging feud between the two brothers. The story takes place against the backdrop of the rural landscape of Erris in West Mayo, in the small towns of Bangor Erris, Ballina and Castlebar. 

This overview was copied from bookadda.com:

“When Peter returns home to his farm house in Mayo he is surprised to see two policemen sitting at the front door. They accuse him of attacking his mother and brother and leaving them for dead. He visits them in Castlebar hospital, under police guard, and one of them dies. Peter is accused of the killing. He protests his innocence, but there is evidence that he cannot explain away. Peter has to defend not only himself from a charge of murder. He also has to protect the woman his brother deceived. Three people alternately accuse him and try to help him: Charlie Dempsey, a former IRA man who travels around Ireland to help former prisoners Sergeant Patrick O'Mahony, who is dealing with his own fall from grace, Father Patrick Keane, who cannot forgive the sins of the Catholic Church, three men who participate in the quest to find the killer. “

My thoughts:

This was a hard novel to rate, hovering between being very captivated in the intrigue and skimming over paragraphs during the long myriad of religious overtones and of the numerous sidebars that kept interrupting the flow. Leaving me with mixed feelings and wondering what could have been the real essence behind the words other than to highlight how zealous religious beliefs could destroy a person and affect family and community. On one hand I loved the way the author has creatively shaped the murder investigation by gradually inserting a variation of twists to derail us from guessing the outcome, IMO he did this expertly. Another high point is the memorable characterization, long after reading the story I still see Brian, Peter and the terrible mother. On the other hand too much focus was put on the effect of radical ideas and the repetitiveness became an annoyance thus I felt many times dropping the book. Although in retrospect this wasn't a bad book by any means, it surely will not make it to the top of my best read for this year..

This was a case of "it's not you, it's me." 

There was nothing particularly wrong with the writing or the story, it just wasn't my cup of tea. There was some incredible imagery, but I found it disturbing rather than entertaining. I don't think my stomach can handle survival stories.

The beginning of the story read more like nonfiction than fiction with all it's detailed descriptions of animals and zoos. Some of it was interesting, but it's just not the type of stuff I want to read for entertainment.