Random Things Tours: Clickbait by L.C.North

´Living with the Lancasters has something for everyone. You´re going to love us, and if you don´t, then you´re going to love hating us´.

Since the cover reveal for Clickbait, I couldn´t wait to have the chance to read and review this book. If you are following my reviews, you may notice that I am fascinated about stories that relate to social media episodes, either through the characters interactions or as a main setting or both.

The Lancasters aim at being the British Kardashians. Every Sunday, at 7 pm, there is a new episode on YouTube, revealing daily episodes from their glamorous life: parties, launch of new product lines, daily interactions. But there are cracks in Paradise and once a disappeared teenager appears in one of their videos from 20 years ago, the family is overexposed for all the wrong reasons and there is a tragic chain put into motion.

The story is created through various reports of social media interactions which gives you the impression of being part of a reality show as well. It made me think a lot about way too many glamorous families and couples on screen, struggling in fact against the odds of very miserable private lives. It is sad, indeed, and teaches us to never try to compare our lives with the projections of happiness we see on screen. Comparing in general is toxic, but pushing ourselves under pressure to replicate empty lives is very dangerous for our mental health as well and the reality shows - reality, indeed, but still shows - do deliver us an attractive reality.

The story enfolds like a puzzle game during which the reader should stay alert for not missing any single detail of the story. As you advance from one episode of the story to another, there is a growing feeling that there is something more serious and dramatic about to happen and this expectations are largely met. As for the end, it is very unexpected - at least for me - one last twist after many surprising turnes of the story.

I really enjoyed Clickbait for its engaging plot and the psychological insights into a world we are all writing off, one social media or YouTube like or comment at a time. A fully relatable story of our busy times.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Suddenly unemployed, Evie is accepting a call from her grandmother to come help her maintain the bookshop she managed for years on the sunny island of Santorini. But her grandmother´s problems are more than simple management issues, as she is about to lose her beautiful bookish place, due to misunderstandings with the local Greek landlord. And as the situation seems to become hopeless by the day, a charming idea seems to take shape: what about if Evie is set on a fake date with the handsome landlord´s grandson, the equally charming Georgios?

In full honesty, I´ve read this book in a day, in just few pleasant hours spent in the company of those witty characters - among which, Floretta, the grandmother is lovely and the kind of person you need into your life, and the relationship between her and Evie is beautiful and inspiring. The ambiance plays a good role in creating the story, and even if you never been to Santorini, you can feel and breath the place from the pages of the book.

Summer at the Santorini Bookshop is an invitation to believe in love, even if it may start with a fake date for a very noble cause. The kind of book one would love to have with on vacation, on a Greek island or not. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: A Kiss in Kashmir by Monica Saigal

I am honoured to consider Monica Saigal a close friend, and I feel always priviledged to be part of her literary success, sometimes by getting early access to her beautiful writings. She has an unlimited capacity to reinvent herself, by trying different genres, from poetry, short stories to fiction, cookbooks and personal accounts. No matter the genre she is experiencing with, the result is always eye-opening as it opens up to new worlds and ideas, leaving the reader richer and bolder to explore beyond the comfort zone of the everyday imagination.

Her latest book, A Kiss in Kashmir is a romance of second chances. Sharmila, a talented artist, is back to Kashmir after many years of absence, following dramatic political events that lead to the disappearance of the love of her life. While busy preparing the wedding of her daughter, Alina, she gets to know George, a retired art historian, slowly recovering following the death if his beloved wife.

Two broken hearts who lost their soulmates. Would they be given a second chance? Are there second chances, second soulmates? After all, love is just love. Love in itself is a chance to live, no matter when it happens or how many times in life it happens. 

What I really loved about this book is that it covers so many separate aspects - local Kashmir history, art history, love and romance - while creating a coherent beautiful story. This is how one recognizes a great storyteller and Monica Saigal is definitely one of them. Only if she will share with the world more of her beautiful stories.

A recommended read to anyone looking for an emotional story of love, with relatable characters set in an unique surrounding. It leaves the reader with a soothing feeling that love is such a simple, rare and genuine feeling, we must always cheerish, every time it really happens. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Last Exiles by Ann Shin

 

Book set in North Korea or with a North-Korean inspiration are rare those days. The secretive repressive nature of the regime that turned the country into a prison hard to escape from deter some people from finding freedom. Those who did, probably are rather interested in sharing their stories as nonfiction, in memoirs or movies. 

Hence, my high interest in reading The Last Exiles, by movie maker and author Ann Shin. A love story set on the background of an unlikely couple caught in the everyday life absurdities of the repressive system, it resonates with every other stories of people growing up in dictatorships. The repressive system controlling the lives and content of the cupboards of the citizens is nurtured by abuse and corruption that will stay for a long time in the soul of the people, independenlty of their will.

Jin and Suja met at the university where they are studying together journalism. He is on a scholarship from people with modest background, she is the only daughter of a powerful media owner, close to the establishment. While on vacation visiting his parents, there is a raid taking place, during which the food rations of his parents are stolen. Jin will try to make justice on his own, but no one is on his own in a totalitarian regime. He ends up in a penitentiary colony but he will escape to China. 

Driven by love, Suja will escape using a complicated network of smugglers only to end up as a victim of human trafficking. After many unhappy adventures, the two of them will meet again and will leave behind China and North Korea, hoping to start a new life abroad.

Inspired by true events, The Last Exiles is an emotional story of random human cruelty but also of empathy and hope. Although I felt that som, e moments that I expected to be highly tensed as the escape through the river of both of the main characters were treated too fast - personally I was really curious how they did it, being fed many stories of escaping dictatorships by the way of swimming as well - the book is well and empathically written.

I would be curious to read more - also in nonfiction - about the human trafficking stories at the border with China, but first and foremost, would love to hear more stories about everyday life in North Korea and the escape stories. The Last Exiles just arose my curiosity to discover more, although it is not always easy for me to carry to weight of all those broken destinies only because born in the wrong moment, under the worse political regime.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: The Rabbits by A.A.Milne

As promised, I am back with a new review of a book by A.A.Milne, the iconic author of the equally famous children book Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Milne was a prolific author who tried his hand of different genres and his short stories are intelligent sketches of various human characters and their stories.

The Rabbits - the self-given name for a group of friends in pre-war Britain - has the same deep sociological and psychological appeal, but it´s also witty and easygoing when it comes to the passions of the youth. The interactions, the game of language and the adventures of the group reflects at a certain level - middle class level, anyway - the society of the time, living carelessly in the shadows of a war in the making.

This book is matching the long trend of British literature of the early 20th, late 19th century, focused on fine and smart observations about society and it´s middle class representatives, therefore, The Rabbits can be also read as a sociological testimony as well as a literary episode of a long list of British authors.

The book reads easily but has a charm that will definitely keep you interested for the long run and at a certain literary level connected with the characters. They may stay with you for a while and keep you buy trying to figure out their motivations and behavior. 

A recommended read and a welcomed initiative to bring back to the literary life such an intelligent writer. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Orenda Books Tour: The Kitchen by Simone Buchholz translated by Rachel Ward

 

It is my great pleasure and honor to have been given again the chance of reviewing the newest book by Simone Buchholz, translated into English from German by Rachel Ward, published by the one and only Orenda Books. 

Hamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley is back with a very delicate and complicated case, trying to trace down the murderer(s) of men with history of abusive behavior towards women. A story with an unexpected end, it is marked by the tension between the law and justice: should one make justice trying to prevent further abuse, or just follow the letter of the law and judge accordingly?

I personally love books based on such presumptions, particularly crime books, as they reveal important mechanisms of decision making within the act of justice and therefore are throwing more light into the human behavior as such.

German crime writing - Krimi, as it is called here - is a largely underrated category of crime novels nowadays as it is usually available to the outside world only through translations. Authors like Buchholz are really worth getting to know and I wish the list of talented German crime writers is much longer.

What I particularly love about the Chastity Riley series as well is the atmospheric descriptions of Hamburg, one of my favorite cities in Germany and in Europe in general. 

The Kitchen is a really challenging novel, with an important contemporary touch dealing with violence against women while raising relevant moral and ethical questions. This read is a feast for any serious crime novels lover.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Der Hausmann by Wlada Kolosowa, illustrated by Raúl Soria

 

An illustrated novel of a contemporary couple - and a hard working German learning refugee from Ukraine - Der Hausmann (the masculine version of the Hausfrau) by Wlada Kolosowa is an ironic view on an unlikely couple. Enmeshed in accidental neighbouring relationships, the characters are entertaining and very much relatable, at least for the Berlin crowd.

My main attraction for reading the book was the mixture between story, illustrations - by Berlin-based Spanish graphic artist Raúl Soria - and some social media fragments - as some of the characters do engage in social media activities. Given the contemporaneity of the topic, it was a happy choice and the different narrative layers only made the reading diverse and entertaining.

In some respects, the book reads as a comic book. Thea and Tim do challenge the patriarchy: she is from a rich family living in Dahlem, working hard in a start-up, he is the son of a single cleaning lady, whom he often accompanied to JobCenter meetings in-between jobs. He is an artist - working hard to finish a graphic novel with an ecological topic - and when the inspiration left him, taking care of the household. Does this story have a happy ending? Or/Oder...?

I enjoyed the irony of the book and it has some funny turns of phrase that makes it a recommended read for students trying to improve their contemporary German knowledge - B1 to B2 level. Although I felt sometimes that the story has too many creative turns - of the kind that just add more and more text to the story without necessarily flowing into the story, I´ve found the story entertaining and worth reading it.

Der Hausmann recommended read if you are looking for some easy weekend read with a rich German vocabulary.

Rating: 3.5 stars