📖 Book Review ~ Trouble by Michael E Wills

Bygone Ages Press
9 February 2024

Clifftop Farm in Wartime #3

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

The lives of the four children at Clifftop Farm become very difficult and dangerous when their beloved collie, Billy, gets into serious trouble.

The youngsters are compelled to devise a plan to rescue their dog. However, to get the crucial evidence they require, they must outsmart a group of criminals.

Unexpected assistance emerges from two surprising quarters: an Italian prisoner of war and a sergeant in a commando regiment stationed near to the farm. In a race against time, will the children succeed in locating the vital information needed to secure the dog's safety?

📖 My Review..

This is now the third book in the trilogy of novels for young readers which explores the lives of the children who live at Clifftop Farm on the Isle of Wight. We first met this bunch of children after they had been evacuated to the farm which belongs to Jimmy and his mother, Vera and have followed their adventures in each subsequent book. This story begins in May 1941 when Jimmy and his mother have to attend magistrates court in Newport owing to an incident which has involved their collie dog, Billy. This acts as a catalyst and further adventures begin in the children’s quest to keep Billy safe.

What I have enjoyed about this trilogy is the way the place and the people come alive. The WW2 setting is explained really well and each book is interspersed with ‘true facts’ which help to put the historical details into context. The author writes well for his target audience which for these stories I would say was between 8-11 years. There is enough excitement to keep the attention of the reader and the characters are very personable which makes for an enjoyable and exciting read. I particularly enjoyed the ‘What became of them after the war’ section at the end of the book and the author’s recollections of his own wartime experiences along with the inspiration for the story about Billy.

The Clifftop Farm trilogy is a lovely introduction to WW2 historical fiction for young readers. Each book can be read as a standalone story but it makes sense to start at the beginning with Treason, Treachery and finally, Trouble.

About the Author

Michael Wills was born in Newport on the Isle of Wight and attended the Priory Boys School and Carisbrooke Grammar. He trained as a teacher at St Peter’s College, Birmingham, before working at a secondary school in Kent.

Twitter @MWillsofSarum

Website

Amazon UK

 

📖 Hist Fic Saturday~ Treason by Michael E. Wills

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

 Let's go back to ...1940

Nielson UK
30 April 2022
Cliff Top Farm #1

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

A thrilling story of children in wartime

In the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of children were evacuated from British cities and sent to areas of the country where it was regarded that they would be safer from bombing.

This Government operation was named "Pied Piper". The first evacuations were in 1939 and the second wave in 1940, at the time of the Blitz.

Children went to stay with complete strangers, who had been deemed by the authorities to have spare space in their homes. The hosts were obliged to take the children. Many were unenthusiastic about having a young guest staying with them for an unspecified length of time and there were incidences of unkindness and even cruelty.

"Treason" is a story about two such city children. Judith is a twelve-year-old girl from London, an only child from a very privileged background. She finds herself billeted in a farm on the Isle of Wight. The farm is run by Mrs Orton, a widow, who lives with her twelve-year-old son, Jimmy, and her handicapped brother-in-law. They are joined by another evacuee guest, Alfie, an eleven-year-old boy from a working class family in Portsmouth.

The story tells how their lives change and how the guests adapt to a very different way of life. Like all children they enjoy adventure, but the one on which they embark gets them involved in a danger to their lives and leads them to TREASON!

📖My review..

Aimed primarily at the younger end of the young adult market this historical fiction story is especially interesting as it focuses on both the excitement, and emotion, of those children who were evacuated to the countryside during Operation Pied Piper, which, at the start of the Second World War, saw hundreds of thousands of children taken to places of safety.

 

Judith Neville is twelve years old and Alfie Field is eleven when they are taken from their families and relocated to the Isle of Wight. Judith's privileged background in a wealthy London suburb couldn't be more different from Alfie who has been brought up in a working class household in Portsmouth and yet neither of their upbringings have prepared the children for life on Cliff Top Farm where they are cared for by kind hearted Vera Orton and her eleven year old son, Jimmy. 

The story is really interesting and has more than enough adventure to satisfy the confident reader and yet it is also a story which could be read by an interested adult, I certainly enjoyed reading of Judith, Alfie and Jimmy's adventures. The story has a sympathetic edge which allows a glimpse into the emotional wrench of leaving behind their homes and the difficulties in learning to adapt to new and very different surroundings. The little snippets of historical fact which are highlighted at various points in the story help to put the whole thing into context.

The dramatic ending certainly lends itself to a continuation of this Cliff Top Farm series with the next adventure "Treachery" to follow...as they say, watch this space.

🍵 Best read with...a glass of warm milk and a slice of Vera's apple pie.

About the Author

Michael Wills was born in Newport on the Isle of Wight and attended the Priory Boys School and Carisbrooke Grammar. He trained as a teacher at St Peter’s College, Birmingham, before working at a secondary school in Kent.

Website

Twitter @MWillsofSarum

Review ~ The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The second book in the new Bellatrix collection

A creatively curated list of empowering diverse YA novels by leading female voices

Hachette Children Books
19 September 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community.

Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn't understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls as gifts.

They may not have had their divining day, but the girls will still discover their fate..

What did I think about it..

Stories about the brides of Dracula are not my usual genre but when approached to read and review this re-imagining of an old story by talented writer Kiran Millwood Hargrave, I was delighted to have the opportunity to read a version of a classic vampire story which is aimed at young adult readers.

Seventeen year old twins, Lil and Kizzy, are about to come of age and discover their fate in a divining ceremony  but then something catastrophic happens to their settlement and the twins are abducted and taken by force as the captives of Boyar Valcar who rules his community with cruelty and oppression. Lil and Kizzy, in mourning for all they have lost, are sent to work in the castle kitchens, however, their beauty and feisty nature brings them both to the attention of Boyar Valcar with disastrous consequences.

The author writes well, with an understanding of her target audience, and with imaginative flair for detail, she brings the story to life in lively detail. I enjoyed following Lil and Kizzy's adventures, and particularly Lil's close relationship with Mira, who is a fellow captive, and which adds a very different dimension to the story.

The Deathless Girls brings a nice awareness of the legend to a younger audience and allows a more modern day feminist approach with feisty young women who know their own mind. This is now the second book in the Bellatrix series of YA novels which continues the theme of re-telling a classic in a more modern way.

About the Author

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award winning poet, playwright, and bestselling novelist. Her debut novel for children, The Girl of Ink & Stars won the Waterstones Book Prize and the children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Her work has been long and short listed for several other major prizes, including costaAward and th CILIP Carnegie Award. The Deathless Girls is her first novel for Young Adults.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a graduate of Oxford and Cambridge Universities and lives by the river in Oxford with her husband and cat.

Twitter @Kiran_MH #TheDeathlessGirls

@hachettekids

About Bellatrix

The Bellatrix collection aims to publish gripping, powerful YA novels by leading female voices. In literature as in life women past and present have countless stories untold, mis-told or simply unheard. The Bellatrix series will range from gothic, to thriller, humour to romance. Each story will be unique re-telling of a classic, given a feminist slant, and connected by one main goal - the passion and determination to tell the whole story.

Blog Tour ~ Cold Fire by James Hartley (GIVEAWAY)

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the Cold Fire Blog Tour

Lodestone Books
31 August 2018

My thanks to the author and to Rachel's Random Resources for my invitation to the blog tour and for my copy of the book

What's it all about..

Set in the magical boarding school of St Francis', Cold Fire centres around a group of teenagers who become involved in the tale of Romeo and Juliet in this contemporary re-telling of the classic story. Meanwhile, four hundred years earlier, a young teacher from Stratford Upon Avon arrives at the school. His name is Will... From the author of The Invisible Hand comes the second book in the spellbinding Shakespeare´s Moon series.

What did I think about it..

Romeo and Juliet, that iconic Shakespearean tale of tragic young lovers, has been given a contemporary feel in Cold Fire which I am sure will appeal to young adult readers in a very relevant way. The story is set in St Francis’ which is a Scottish boarding school and even though it’s an enchanted sort of place, the pupils there are filled with the same sort of angst that teenagers the world over have experienced at one time or another. Young love, unrequited love, warring parents, peer rivalry, it’s all there in abundance, but what’s also fascinating is the way that the author has directed the story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, a play we know so well, and yet, he has given it a slightly edgier feel, which I think works really well. Add into the mix the story of Will from Stratford who arrives at the school some 400 years earlier to look for work, and you have the excitement of the bard himself adding his own distinct personality to the pages.

The idea of making Shakespeare more accessible to younger readers is a great idea and the author does a great job of making the story both relevant and interesting to a younger audience. The story is written with great enthusiasm and the intertwining of the past with the present, whilst at the same time keeping the integrity of the original story, is to the author’s credit and works really well. 

I have read The Invisible Hand, the author’s first novel in the Shakespeare’s Moon series, which is also set at St Francis but which focuses on the story of Macbeth, and I think that Cold Fire is a fine continuation of the theme.

About the Author

James was born on the Wirral, England, in 1973 on a rainy Thursday. He shares his birthday with Bono, Sid Vicious and two even nastier pieces of work, John Wilkes Booth and Mark David Chapman. His mother was a hairdresser with her own business and his father worked in a local refinery which pours filth into the sky over the Mersey to this day. They married young and James was their first child. He has two younger brothers and a still-expanding family in the area. As an Everton fan he suffered years of Liverpool success throughout the seventies and was thrilled when his father took a job in Singapore and the family moved lock, stock and two smoking barrels to Asia. He spent five fine years growing up in the city state before returning to the rain, storms, comprehensive schools and desolate beauty of the Scottish east coast. Later years took he and his family to baking hot Muscat, in Oman, and a Syria that has since been bombed off the surface of the planet. James lives in Madrid, Spain, with his wife and two children.

Website

Twitter @jameshartleybks

@rararesources

Facebook

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Giveaway – Win 5 x Signed copies of Cold Fire with a special tactile pen

 (Open Internationally) 

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour ~ The Invisible Hand by James Hartley (GIVEAWAY)

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on the The Invisible Hand Blog Tour 

Lodestone Books

My thanks to the author and Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to be part of this blog tour

The Invisible Hand is about a boy, Sam, who has just started life at a boarding school and finds himself able to travel back in time to medieval Scotland. There he meets a girl, Leana, who can travel to the future, and the two of them become wrapped up in events in Macbeth, the Shakespeare play, and in the daily life of the school. The book is the first part of a series called Shakespeare´s Moon. Each book is set in the same boarding school but focuses on a different Shakespeare play.

My Review :

Written for a young adult reading audience, The Invisible Hand explores the themes in Shakespeare's, Macbeth, thus making the story accessible and hopefully readable for a modern young audience for whom Shakespeare's more ponderous prose can often seem insurmountable.

I liked the idea of setting the story in a boarding school,with a young protagonist who thrives on adventure, and even though Sam is challenged by his time travel experience, and who wouldn't be alarmed about landing in medieval Scotland, there are lots of elements of surprise and more than a hint of danger to be found in the story overall.

The author writes well with his target audience in mind and neither patronises, nor protects them from the danger which is so often inherent in Shakespeare's work, and in particular in Macbeth. I enjoyed the historical aspects of the story which are nicely done and enjoyed Sam's reaction, particularly to the witches...well, it wouldn't be Macbeth without them, would it ?

The Invisible Hand is the start of a series of young adult novels entitled Shakespeare's Moon in which different Shakespearean plays will be featured but with the continuity of the same boarding school setting. I'm looking forward to reading more.

About the Author

James was born on the Wirral, England, in 1973 on a rainy Thursday. He shares his birthday with Bono, Sid Vicious and two even nastier pieces of work, John Wilkes Booth and Mark David Chapman. His mother was a hairdresser with her own business and his father worked in a local refinery which pours filth into the sky over the Mersey to this day. They married young and James was their first child. He has two younger brothers and a still-expanding family in the area. As an Everton fan he suffered years of Liverpool success throughout the seventies and was thrilled when his father took a job in Singapore and the family moved lock, stock and two smoking barrels to Asia. He spent five fine years growing up in the city state before returning to the rain, storms, comprehensive schools and desolate beauty of the Scottish east coast. Later years took he and his family to baking hot Muscat, in Oman, and a Syria that has since been bombed off the surface of the planet. James studied journalism in London and later travelled through Ireland, France, Germany and India generally having a good time, before finally settling in Madrid, Spain, where he now lives with his wife and two children.

Social Media Links – 

Facebook 

Twitter @jameshartleybks

Goodreads

Website

*ENTER GIVEAWAY**

Giveaway – Win 5 x Signed copies of The Invisible Hand with special Invisible Hand tactile pens (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do visit the other blog tour stops 

Review ~ Children of the Chieftain : Bounty by Michael E. Wills

Silverwood Books
March 2017

Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is the third installment in this excellent Viking series which is aimed at young readers.

What's it all about..

The orphan children of the late chieftain, Sten Brightsword, have been banished from their island home after they disobeyed the instruction of the “Ting”, the island parliament. In order to be allowed to return they must bring with them a warrior’s helmet filled with silver.

The brother and sister, Ahl who is now seventeen and Ingir who is a year older, get the help of the Governor of a town in northern Russia after Ingir becomes engaged to the Governor’s son. But things go wrong for them when the town is threatened by an attack from enemies. They escape south and after many adventures Ahl and his crew reach Constantinople. At last things look better for them when the Emperor offers them work which is so highly paid that they must surely earn enough silver bounty to fill a helmet.

What did I think about it...

When I was ten or eleven I loved reading historical adventure stories and I am sure that if the Children of the Chieftain books had been around at that time I would have devoured them just as eagerly as I did the work of Alan Garner and Leon Garfield.

I’ve followed this series from the beginning and have seen both the story telling and the characters grow in confidence, and as each story comes along there is a clever continuance of the historical adventure which unfolds in every story. In The Children of the Chieftain: Bounty the young crew of the Viking ship, Eagle set off on a new adventure, on a journey which will take them to new and exciting places, and which will be fraught with danger and cruel mischance.

As always the author writes a really good, rollicking adventure and never compromises on accurate description nor does he patronise his young readers by omitting the dangerous aspects of this time in history. The historical research is as ever impeccably achieved and there is a real feeling of authenticity to the story which those who have read the series from the beginning will recognise as typical of this author’s fine attention to detail.

Whilst Bounty may be read as a standalone historical adventure, as always, my advice is to read any series from the start, as that way you notice the progression, and the story becomes far more meaningful when you become emotionally invested in the characters.

For younger readers who may struggle with some of the terminology, or even for adults like me who may need some clarification, there is a helpful word explanation at the end of the book.

At the start of this Viking adventure I was informed that it was to be a trilogy of work, I am especially pleased to find that there is now to be a fourth book, The Children of the Chieftain: Bound for Home which will oversee the conclusion. Most certainly the ending of Bounty lends itself to even more adventures in the final conclusion.

Best Read With …smoked meat and porridge...and a foaming tankard of ale for the grownups...

You can read an excellent guest post by the author about The Lure of Miklagård by clicking here

About the Author

Find Michael on his website

Follow him on Twitter @MWillsofSarum

My thanks to the author for sharing his book with me.

Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is out now and published by Silverwood Books

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Review ~ Children of the Chieftain : Banished by Michael E. Wills

Silverwood Books
2015

Aimed at the young reader’s book market, Children of the Chieftain: Banished is a rollicking good story which continues the Viking trilogy which began with Children of the Chieftain: Betrayed. The story opens where the first book left off and follows the exciting adventures of a group of intrepid young people who lives have been irreversibly changed by the Viking raid on their small town on the Isle of Birches in Birka, which is now in modern day Sweden.  In this second story, one of their friends has been captured and sold into slavery in the land of the Rus and the children of the old chieftain, who we first met in Betrayed, set out to do all they can to liberate one of their own people.

What draws me, an adult reader, into these Viking adventures is the fine attention to detail which the author instils into his novels. There is certainly no compromise on detail for a younger reading audience who, I am sure, will find much to enjoy in this thrilling story. Thriving on exciting historical content, this ancient world is wonderfully recreated and is filled with characters who are always believable, not always likeable, but who, collectively, add a real sense of authenticity to a story which abounds with excitement, danger and a real sense of adventure.

I am sure that those readers like me, who have followed the children of the chieftain from the beginning, will find much to enjoy in this continuation and will, by the end of the story, be looking eagerly towards book three, and the conclusion of the story, which is expected in Children of the Chieftain: Bounty.

Younger readers may need help with some of the terminology used and for those readers who are not familiar with Viking vocabulary there is an interesting and helpful glossary at the end of the book which explains some of the terms used in daily life.

Best read with ...wooden cups of ice cold stream water and line caught fish cooked over a wood fire..

About the Author

Find Michael on his website

Follow him on Twitter @MWillsofSarum

Buy on Amazon UK

Read a sample chapter from Children of the Chieftain : Banished 

My thanks to Michael for sharing his book with Jaffareadstoo

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Review ~ What If by Rebecca Donovan

Penguin

2015

Aimed quite firmly at the young adult/ teenage market this is the story of what happens when we try to rediscover ourselves and Cal Logan finds to his cost that life is never simple. When he sees a girl who reminds him of his ex -girlfriend, it sparks a series of events which makes Cal question everything he once thought was true. It's a story about friendship, relationships, and of the ties that bind us irrevocably together. It's a bit like reading a jigsaw puzzle and about the crazy way that life has of mixing up the pieces just when you thought you had them in some semblance of order.

Sadly, I am not in the age demographic for this sort of novel, having left my teenage years a long, long time ago, and probably because of that I occasionally felt that the book lacked a certain oomph, but then being more used to reading adult fiction, I recognise that this is due more to my reading taste than in anything lacking in this novel. However,  I do recognise that it's one of those books I would have dearly loved to have been able read when I was at school when the angst of doomed love affairs seemed altogether  far more important than anything else going on in the world.

The author does a good job of bringing the story to life in a realistic way and I'm glad that I've had the chance to read something a little out of my comfort zone..

My thanks to Penguin for my copy of What If..

About the author

Amazon UK

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Death Wish by Megan Tatye

In Search for the meaning of Death. She'll find Life

Scarlett Blake returns to Twycombe in Devon, ostensibly to find out why her seventeen year old sister, Sienna, would take her own life.  The place is filled with memories of when Scarlett and Sienna were younger and would spend the holidays with their grandparents at the beach resort. The bitter sweet memories of this time remain but nestling under the surface are the dreams and realities which threaten Scarlett’s peace of mind, and which, when she delves further will shed light on rather more than Sienna’s untimely demise.

Aimed at young adults, this age–appropriate story looks at life and love and of the consequences of our actions and how they affect other people. Nicely written with a fine eye for detail, the author has captured the mood of a place with dark secrets and yet, there is contrasting light to the shade and it is peopled by characters that remain with you.

I am sure that young adult readers who enjoy paranormal stories will find much to enjoy in this coming of age novel.

My thanks to the author for sharing her work with me.

More about the author can be found on her website

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Review ~ Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll

Faber and Faber

October 2013

Frost Hollow Hall stands in a frosty hollow surrounded by shadows and mystery. The murky depth of its lake holds a secret that no one has been able to discover, and yet when young Tilly Higgins is tempted to skate on the frozen lake, only an unseen spiritual presence saves her from a near death experience.

What then follows is a remarkably accomplished ghostly read which uses the atmospheric Frost Hollow Hall and its assorted clutch of characters and weaves together a story of unnatural grief and heartbreaking maternal anguish.

From the very start of the book I was enchanted with Tilly, she is a feisty and worthy protagonist and yet the supporting characters of Will, the butcher’s son, and the Mrs. Jessop, the Hall’s unfathomable housekeeper adds a delicious richness to the story. Life below stairs in Frost Hollow Hall really comes to life and the narrative is filled with just the right amount of Gothic gloom so that it never becomes clichéd. The poltergeist activity of flying crockery and ghostly visitations really do make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The lightness of the narrative and the control of both plot and malice made this book an absolute joy to read.

Aimed primarily at the young adult market, this is beautifully written historical fiction and is undoubtedly one of those excellent crossover books which will appeal just as well to adults.

More about Emma Carroll can be found on her website.

My thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for my advance reading copy of this book

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