Broken Elements by Mia Marshall

 

Aidan Brook has been hiding from the world for ten years, happily living in the middle of nowhere and not intending to change that any time soon, when her ex best friend, Sera, turns up on her doorstep with bad news. Those murders that happened all those years ago that made you run away? Well, they seem to be happening again. Aidan reluctantly joins Sera and returns to the scene of the murders, hoping to find who is responsible and put a stop to it for good, as she thought they had long ago.

On her side is the fact that Aidan and Sera are Elementals. They can control their own element. Aidan is a water, while Sera is fire, and the elements help shape their personalities. But the powers also come with a catch, since the murderer is killing those who are close to Elementals. Along for the ride are other Elementals, with varying degrees of power, as well as two shifters. As a group they work on finding and stopping the killer.

I don’t know how good a synopsis that is, but this book is definitely worth a look if you’re at all interested in urban fantasy, or similar. I really enjoyed it. It’s nice to have a new supernatural world, one that doesn’t rely on vampires and werewolves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of those things, but it’s refreshing to have a change, and especially one that doesn’t seem to be basing its world on previous myths and legends. While I don’t think the idea of controlling the elements is new, the history of the Elementals and how they came to be is something I haven’t come across before. There’s strong world building, but without too much exposition. A lot of first books in a series get too heavily bogged down with back story, or they can skirt that entirely to keep people guessing for the next book, which is frustrating. I think Broken Elements treads this line carefully, giving you just enough to keep you interested without giving everything away. There’s still a lot to learn about the world and I look forward to seeing where it goes as the series progresses.

One of my favourite things about the book is the friendship between Aidan and Sera. When the story begins they’ve been estranged for years, but they’ve never really lost their connection to each other. I liked seeing them reconnect, and there’s real affection between them. And one of the strongest parts of the book is the humour and excellent dialogue. These conversations felt real. The group of friends as a whole is very well written, and they all get personalities and a voice and back stories, when it could have been easy for them to get lost in the group.

I really liked Aidan as a main character, and the book works especially well when exploring her doubts and insecurities about her powers and heritage and how/where she fits in as a half-elemental. I like that Aidan feels, for want of a better word, human. Real. Even though she has supernatural powers she’s still very relatable, and she does make mistakes. There’s nothing worse than an impossibly perfect heroine.

Along with the mystery of who dunnit, there’s a nice, slow burning romance, just in case anyone was worried that was missing. It’s more hinted at for most of the book, but that’s nice, it is not rushed or forced. As this is a series it can afford to take its time and let us become invested. It makes sense to do that, but not all writers do.

I look forward to the second book in the series, and learning more about Aidan and her world. So roll on 2013, when we get the next installment.

Update, 26 February 2013: I am friends with the author but this is an honest review. I am now working with the author in a publishing company, although I was not at the time of writing this. It does not affect the content of my review.

The Ghost of Lily Painter by Caitlin Davies

Annie Sweet is immediately drawn to 43  Stanley Road and quickly moves in with her family. The house is everything she wanted, but there are odd things about it – their dog barks at thin air, the floor in her office slopes oddly. As her marriage begins to disintegrate, Annie seeks answers to her home’s past. She discovers through the census that a young chorus girl named Lily Painter used to lodge there, and Annie is desperate to discover more about her.

Intertwined with Annie’s story in the present, there are other voices from the past. Inspector William George writes a journal about his cases, one in particular about baby farming which is bothering him. (Baby farming being when unwed mothers with little other choice available to them would pay other women to take their babies off their hands, and then these women would sell them on to those who couldn’t have children. In some cases the babies died in suspicious circumstances.) George received a tip off about two women and is determined to get to the bottom of it. And then there’s Lily’s voice, the ghost of the title. Initially we get to see how she came to live with the Georges and start making a name for herself on the stage, but it isn’t too long before poor Lily ties the threads of the story together.

I wish this book had a different title. It is such an obvious one for a book like this. And to be honest it doesn’t fit the tone of the book at all. Neither does the jacket image. It looks like it should be very creepy, an old fashioned, scary ghost story. And it isn’t that at all, although there are times when the author tries to shoe horn that in. And that’s the problem with this book in a nutshell: it is trying to be far too many things at once, and failing on all counts. It is not a ghost story, nor is it historical fiction, or a relationship drama. It’s all those things stuck together to make a decent book that could have been even better, had it been more focused. Parts of the book are ‘inspired’ by a true story of baby farmers, and the author uses these beginnings to think about a larger ‘what if?’ These parts work really well. I was hooked on the sections that focused on the inspector, and Lily’s earlier days and how she gets involved with the baby farmers. These sections are very well written, and if the book had only been about the past I think it could have been really excellent.

The parts that don’t work all that well are the present day ones, and they felt unnecessary. It seemed like the author wanted to frame the story in this way and so made it happen, even if it didn’t do the book any good, and meant that the ending was far too silly and coincidental for it to have the emotional impact it should have. Annie, I’m afraid to say, is a very dull character, and so spending time with her while she unravels what we already know is not all that interesting. And when she’s not looking into the past she’s despairing over her marriage or taking her daughter to endless auditions, (the daughter wants to be an actress, sort of, but it’s a lame attempt at adding drama. No pun intended there).

One thing I did enjoy was the setting, which is Holloway. I live in North London so it was nice to see places I am familiar with popping up in a book. And while I can’t give this a rave review, it was entertaining for the most part. I just think it could have been a lot better.

Almost There

The quilt I started in January is almost finished. I have pieced the second half together, basted it, quilted it, and now I am making the binding and once that’s done, and sewed, that’s it! I am all kinds of impressed with myself. It is definitely not a perfect quilt, but I’ve done this all by hand and with the help of online tutorials, so I think it’s ok to be a bit impressed. I was expecting lots to go wrong and have to rip out stitches and all sorts, but actually it’s been pretty smooth. I am sure I’m jinxing myself now, but never mind.

Who wants to see bad iPhone photos of the quilt so far?

This was pre-basting.

And during the quilting. I may have stabbed myself a million times doing this.

Here’s an attempt at a close up after quilting.

And another.

And its current state.

So there you go. I think it’s safe to say I’ve got the quilting bug. However, my next attempt will be much smaller. As much as I’ve enjoyed this, it’d be nice to get one finished in less than six months.

PG Trips lives!

And she was born on Christmas Day:

(Um, anyone not from the UK who may not get it, it’s after a brand of tea, PG Tips, my favourite. And also is very me since I am clumsy and trip up a lot.)

The derby name thing is something that I initially got excited about, and then became a bit of a chore as I tried to come up with something that a) was fitting and b) was not already taken. Coming up with puns is reasonably easy, but finding that unique one that will be accepted felt almost impossible. Some names I considered and then rejected (or just thought of but would never have used myself):

Tea N Tea

Tea Total

Calamitea Jane (I’m a fan of the tea related names, as my final one shows)

Thugsy Malone (Not taken, and a contender for a while, but not quite right)

Violent Hill (For the Coldplay fans)

Rio Speedwagon (I like Power Ballads… Also, there are Rio Rollers skates)

Jammer Dodger (Who doesn’t love Jammie Dodgers?! Could get confusing though)

Starbuck Rogers (For the Sci-Fi geeks. Although anything with ‘rogers’ in can be risky)

Optimism Prime (Stupid, but amused me)

Cosmic Shove (Matches my initials!)

Iowa A. Smack (Prob best if an American takes that one)

Pacey Hitter (For I still love thee Pacey…)

Anyway, my derby name is official. I have the merch and it’s on the website. I am glad about this, but I am not terribly attached to the name. It is more the faff you have to go through to get it (it took seven months) and that I had merch printed with the name on it already. If it had been rejected I don’t think I’d have bothered with another one. Anyway, yay!

Switched

Switched is the first book in the Trylle Trilogy from self-publishing ‘sensation’ Amanda Hocking. Hocking sold millions of ebooks before securing a publishing deal, and the paperback is the version I read. While I think what she has achieved is amazing, I also think she’s a good example of why traditional publishing, and especially a good editor, are still valuable. I don’t know how much has been changed from her original version and the one in book form, but I would guess not much, and this hurts it. While there’s a reasonably enjoyable book here, it needs a lot of work to make it truly good.

Wendy Everly has never felt like she really fits in. When she was six years old her mother tried to kill her, claiming Wendy wasn’t her daughter, and she’s been in an institution since. Wendy was raised by her aunt Maggie and older brother Matt in a loving home, but she didn’t feel like she belonged. Then a mysterious boy appears at her new school and tells her she is different; in fact, she’s a troll. She has the ability of persuasion and so can make people do what she wants them to, and she’s a changeling – she was switched at birth, meaning the woman she believed was her mother was right all along. Wendy follows Finn back to Forening, where the trolls (Trylle) live, and meets her real mother, as well as unexpected duties.

As I said, I found this to be fairly enjoyable. It is a quick and easy read, fast-paced and Wendy is a likable character. If you’re looking for something to just pass the time then this may be a perfect fit. But there’s also a lot that works against it, including that fast pace, since it seems to rush through so many things when it should take its time a little more.

And I did have problems with the writing. It is very ‘tell not show’. As an example:

“Telling Maggie about the dance may have been the worst idea I’ve ever had, and my life is made up almost entirely of bad ideas. I hadn’t wanted to go, but as soon as she’d heard about it, she decided it would be the most fantastic thing ever. I’d never gone to a dance before, but she was so excited about it, I let her have this small victory.”

Couldn’t we have had this conversation fleshed out, so we could have been a part of it? We could have seen how excited Maggie was, rather than just been told. It’s very difficult to get a feel for other characters when things are written in this way. Given that the book is told from Wendy’s point of view we have limited access to other people’s thoughts and feelings. Conversations give us this access, so when they’re described as above we’re short changed. There’s too much of this in the book, and after a while it becomes frustrating.

Then there’s the world building aspect. We’re given trolls as the supernatural being of a story. These are something I haven’t really come across, aside from in fairy tales, so I’d expect a rich history and back story. Instead we’re given a world that is basically ours with some minor tweaks and a people with a bit of magic who aren’t that dissimilar to you and me. Their main traits seem to be having unruly hair, liking to be barefoot and being picky eaters. Also they have anger issues, but this mainly comes across as being bratty. Even the changeling aspect of it is under written, the reason is sort of pointless and very human-like: financial gain. Where’s the mystery? Where’s the magic? It seemed like Hocking wanted to use paranormal aspects but keep the characters pretty. That’s fine, but also extremely dull.

As with all books of this genre there is a romance, and a romance with obstacles. Finn is the love in question, and he’s very dreamy (sorry, ‘foxy’ in this world, and boy did that description drive me mad) and protective but that’s about all you get from him. Part of the problem with believability is how Wendy acts around Finn. It seems she is willing to follow him back to Forening merely because he is hot and lurks around on her window ledge (don’t they always?). She doesn’t ask any questions about where she’s going, and even when she gets there and everyone is expecting her to act in a certain way, she still doesn’t ask questions. At one point Finn says to her ‘Do you realize what you’re giving up?’ No! Because you haven’t told her!

In the end I found the writing too frustrating to truly enjoy the book. I think it’s a shame, because there is enough here to make a decent story, it’s just not executed well. The whole thing feels incredibly rushed, and like a first draft that’s been thrown out there with no revision. It speeds along and everything happens very easily, even the ending feels rushed and wrapped up in a couple of pages, while of course setting the scene for the next book. I won’t be reading the next one based on this, I’m just not intrigued enough. But then what do I know? The woman has sold millions, she must be doing something right.

Originally published at Fluttering Butterflies

Winner

Here is the Pet Shop Boys video featuring the London Rollergirls. The one I was in the ‘crowd’ for.

If you look reeeeeeallly closely at one point you might see my feet. Ha. Great to see LRG though.

Just a Winner with a Fat Lip

Friday night was my second bout with the Rec League. I missed the last one, so it’s been around ten months since I bouted properly. And Friday was two bouts, as I was in both Team Blacks. I’d been incredibly nervous beforehand and our teams had had a few set backs with regards to losing players, so I wasn’t feeling all that confident. Our coach later said to never go into a bout thinking you’ll lose, and I think that’s very good advice, hard as it may be at times.

Spoilers up front: Team Black won both bouts. I think I am still surprised by this and it doesn’t feel real. We won the first by one point, the second by around 20, but it was insanely close all the way through. Team Pink were awesome. The first jam we won purely down to a power jam, where the other jammer was sent to the box and our jammer scored something like 25 points. Before that we’d lost it a bit.

We had a new bench coach for the bouts too, as our original coach was ill. We ended up with the coach of London Brawling and Team England, Ballistic Whistle. If you’re gonna have a coach, that’s the one you want, but when I heard it did add to my stress levels. I (wrongly) assumed it would be taken very seriously, when we’d all agreed that it should be about the fun too, and not just winning. Turns out, Ballistic agrees with that sentiment, and gave us an awesome pep talk before the start. And then every time there was a time out or it was half time he’d pull us back in and give us another pep talk, and that really helped and made us play better as a team.

Anyway, I didn’t jam much, but I had a few goes. I wasn’t on my best form, have to say. It’s my own fault as I didn’t eat right beforehand. I was too nervous. I should have had a big lunch instead and then a snack before I went. So I felt weak and hot and, at one point, slightly faint, so I was trying to find a banana and eventually did so felt a bit better. My first time jamming I didn’t get out first but I wasn’t too far behind the other jammer. The problem was that as I was going through the pack someone elbowed me in the face. And it wasn’t my fault this time, it was a proper elbow up and back and I was not falling into her or anything. The refs said later that they saw my head go back, but I don’t think the other player was sent off. I didn’t fall down and kept going but I knew I was bleeding. I thought it was just a bit so I was trying to sneakily wipe it away (which is basically impossible when you’re being closely watched) as the rule is if you’re bleeding you cannot be on the track. Sensible rule really. So the ref sent me off but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so at first I went to the penalty box and then I was waved off to go back to my bench. I skated up and explained ‘I’m bleeding’ as everyone looked confused and a first aider came and sat me down and I took out my mouthguard. This is one of those times again where I think I’m fine but I can’t see how bad it looks, and then I see my formerly white mouthguard is now mostly red. Oh. The inside of my lip was split and the bottom cut as well. I shoved a tissue to my face and sat out for a bit, hoping it would stop so I could go back on. I declined the ice which was a mistake as I could feel my lip getting bigger as I sat. It felt huge, and kept snagging on my mouthguard. It is sore today and a bit puffy/bruised, but it’s fine.

I did one jam that I am proud of, where it was textbook. I got out of the pack straight away, mostly cos the other team was down a blocker, with the other jammer close behind. I managed to score points and call it off before they got points, and that’s what you want. It would have been nice to have more of those, but I did ok as a blocker.

The night is mostly a blur and I’m sure there’s more I wanted to write but I’ll stop there. I’m tired and achey and my butt hurts from where I fell on my skates more than once. Not even on the track, just standing by my bench. Such balance. But still, yay! We won!