Hey everyone 

So it's been a long time since I was on here and A LOT has changed I had a brilliant job but i am not getting made redundant on 13th September. 

As always I am finding a silver lining in being made redundant because I am currently 5 months pregnant so when I finish work on 13th September I will have plenty of time to read until I have the baby (who by the way is a boy) I think a lot of my time will be taken when I have him but I am hoping that I will be able to find time to read and relax. 

I am going to try and post as much as I can but I am not going to put pressure on myself because I know I won't get many books read but when i do finish a book I will upload a review of the book and my opinion.

I hope everyone is well like i said i know it's been a long time since I have been on here so let me know what's been happening with you 

Love you all 

Louise xxx 

Hi Everyone 

Its been over a year since I last posted on here and so much has changed and I have been in and out of work but its all going back to normal as of Monday.

My reading habits have improved so much this past week I have reas Carrie (my first Stephen King), Lullaby,This is going to hurt which is alot for me to read straight after one another so I am happy with that because I missed reading so much and when I was thinking about the books I read I had this sudden urge to want to blog again so here I am back with my weekly (hopefully) reviews of things that have been going on and my progress on a book that I am reading.

My current read is Sherlock Holmes Vs Dracula, I am only a few chapters in so I cant really say what I think of it at the min its held my interest so far so its all good. 

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend so far and I hope that whatever your reading is awesome.

I am always looking for new reads so comment below what your reading and what you think about it 

I am super excited to be back with al you guys I have missed this community and cant wait to be back in the swing of it all :) 

A short version of this review was completed for the LoveReading Reader Review Panel. My thanks to them for the copy of the novel. 

This is the story of Flora, she was a Scottish scientist and explorer. She spent a large part of her childhood in the Arctic onboard her father's whaling boat, and as such she had developed a love of the Arctic and the native people that lived there. We follow Flora as she returned to the Arctic as an adult, and met the romantic interest in the novel; Jakob.
I gave this novel 3 stars, I thought it was ok. There were aspects of the novel I enjoyed, the author's descriptions of the Arctic were particularly impressive in this novel. Penney's use of emotive language very successfully conveyed the beauty of the landscape she was describing, but also the inherent danger of the place. There were whole passages that painted detailed pictures of the sun rising or the starry night sky.
I also really enjoyed the exploration aspect of this novel, I was intrigued by the idea of a female explorer at that time, and the struggles she would inevitably face. I also enjoyed learning how an expedition would be carried out in the late 19th century, just how much planning was involved etc. Many of the struggles Flora faced were tied up in her femininity, she faced a lot of prejudice as she tried to plan and lead her own expedition in a world filled with misogyny, and I enjoyed how the author described these, and how Flora battled past them all.
However, this novel is 600+ pages long, and it did not contain enough action or gripping enough characters to keep me intrigued throughout, and I found I had very little desire to pick the book up. 
I thought the characters had lots of promise, but unfortunately the author failed to shape them into fully developed characters, or in Flora's case she made her so cold and aloof that it was impossible to get to know her, and thus to care about her at all. Jakob and the whole cast of minor characters were so poorly developed that I wasn't invested in any of them, and at times I actually struggled to tell them apart. 
A large portion of the beginning of the novel was taken up with explaining Flora and Jakob's childhood and university experiences respectively. It added very little to the story, didn't really develop the underdeveloped characters, and was a serious struggle to wade through. I believe that this novel could have been improved by a bit of culling, removal of extra scenes that added very little to the story but took up far too much time to get through. This would have made the novel quicker to read, which may have allowed me to get more involved with the characters, and so enjoy the novel more.
The latter half of the novel is mostly about the romantic relationship between Flora and Jakob. There are quite a lot of graphic sex scenes in this novel, so if that is something that bothers you then I would be cautious about reading this novel. This didn't bother me, but due to the high number of sex scenes there was little else written about their relationship other than this. We weren't given an insight into their relationship in any way other than physically, which I find disappointing, as a relationship is built on a multitude of things, and for it to be believable to the reader it must have this evidence behind it.
Overall, this novel contains many beautiful descriptions of the Arctic, and is an ok story of the first explorers of the Arctic, but is sadly let down by poorly developed characters and limp and lifeless romance.

Thanks for reading!

Twitter | Goodreads

Publication Date: 12th February 2015

Publisher: Headline

ISBN: 9780755389971

Source: Lovereading, Netgalley 

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis:

Deacon Novak has returned home. The experienced FBI Agent knows that his move to Cincinnati's Major Crime Enforcement Squad will be challenging, but the greater challenge will be saving his younger brother before he becomes the kind of criminal Deacon is chasing.

Faith Corcoran has escaped her identity. Being a therapist to victims of sex crimes was rewarding, but her work with their offenders has jeopardized her life. Her move represents a chance to build a new life in the empty old house her grandmother has left her.

What Faith doesn't know is that a killer has made the house his playground, taking girls into the basement and murdering them. And now Faith is about disturb his fun.

With a murderer focused on her, Faith is going to have to put her trust in Deacon if she's going to survive. Because this killer is always closer than she thinks....

My Review:

This is the first book I've read by Karen Rose, and is the first in a new series featuring Faith Corcoran. It's a fast-paced thriller with plenty of action and suspense, endearing characters and it keeps you guessing. There is also some romance, including some quite graphic sex scenes, but I feel this is a good fit with the mood of the storyline, rather than added simply for the sake of ticking another box.

Faith is a strong female character, which is great. Nothing turns me off a book quicker than a pathetic simpering woman, so Faith is an ideal lead for me.

All the characters in this book are well written, particularly the more striking looking Novaks. There is great attention to detail, making the characters spring to life right off the page.

The twists and turns mostly kept me on my toes, I was able to guess what was going to happen on a couple of occasions, hence the slightly less than perfect rating. I do read an awful lot of books of this genre, so I'm not convinced your average reader would be unsurprised by how the storyline evolves.

A thoroughly compulsive read; I'll definitely be taking a look at other novels by Karen Rose.

I tried and tried to get into this book, but I eventually gave up. Anyone read it?