THE WORLD BEFORE US by Aislinn Hunter

Hogarth
March 31^st, 2015
978-0-553-41852-1
Suspense/Mystery, Literature
Hardcover
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Blogging for Books
3 Hearts



When Jane Standen was just 15 and a temporary nanny, the little girl she was watching, Lily, disappeared. Now many years later she is back in the area, working at a natural history museam that is closing up. Jane is determined to find the answers to Lily’s disappearance as well as the disappearance of another girl who disappeared over a hundred years before. What Jane finds is more than answers to the disappearances but also who she is. As secrets and more come out into the open, the life Jane only dreams of becomes a reality…if Jane lets herself believe again.

Okay first and foremost this was a complex and complicated book for me to get into. As much as I enjoyed this author’s writing style, the story left much to be desired. There was just enough detail to keep the reader interested and the characters were well written. What I had issues were how this author would go off and leave the questions unanswered, then go off to another question. It was so open ended that after I finished I still didn’t have a clear idea who or what those answers were. The answers to Lily’s and the other girl’s disappearance were never answered and I felt the author had all the tools to give the reader a great story but fell far short in the end.

The characters were well written but there were too m any point of views, constant time shifts from one era to another and it felt like I needed a score card to keep track of them all. This was a confusing book overall for me to read and finish. I kept putting it down, picking it up, putting it down again. There were scenes that I thought would meld into the story but never went anywhere. The author tries but it seems she has all these ideas she wants to incorporate into the story that at times, I felt a bit lost while reading THE WORLD BEFORE US. The constant point of view shifts, the mindless scenes where questions you thought might be answered are not and more are what really put me off from giving this a higher rating. The author tries but I felt they fell just a bit short of the mark they wanted to hit with this book.

If you have a few quiet days and like to read some interesting literature, then I would recommend THE WORLD BEFORE US.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement

BLACK MOON by Kenneth Calhoun

Hogarth Books
March 4^th, 2014
978-0-8041-3716-4
Literary Fiction/Horror/Mystery
Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Blogging for Books
2.5 Hearts




Biggs is trying to figure out why everyone has insomnia, even his wonderful wife, Carolyn. The tell tale red rimmed eyes. The slurred speech. A cloudy mind. All signs of this dreaded phenomenon and yet Biggs can still sleep and dream. So he sets out into the world where he discovers others like him, who can sleep and dream, which fight the tide of insomnia and try to discover what is causing this while searching for his wife. But as sleep becomes more precious than gold, some will even kill to have it.

I really, really tried to get into this book but for the life of me, what I thought would be an interesting read turned out to be one confusing mess of a story, so much so I had to put it down more times than I can count in order to read something that made sense to me. Mr. Calhoun’s writing was tight and sharp yet the way the story played out left me scratching my head in confusion many times.

The characters start off interesting then turn into oblivion as they go off and the author doesn’t let the reader know what happens to them. The sleeplessness doesn’t turn people into zombies but something similar or so that was what I got from this yet it isn’t a zombie novel. Cue the head scratching again. Then we get half way through BLACK MOON and the author totally twists the story inside out and has characters popping up, leaving, no direction whatsoever and more, we get vested into them and they leave. No idea where they went, what happened to them or anything, which annoyed me. I like being invested in the characters as it makes the story richer, fuller and just more enjoyable. Yet Mr. Calhoun completely threw his characters under the bus as he weaves his story so there is no follow up, no completion or anything. If you are invested in a character in BLACK MOON then be prepared to find that they seem to just go away with no by your leave.

BLACK MOON could have been a really good story if the author stayed on point, kept his characters on track and let the reader imagine a world where life as you know it collapses as people succumb to insomnia and the effects it can cause as well as the people trying to solve that mystery ailment. I just wish the author kept on track with this one and I would have enjoyed it more. The author had an intriguing premise that he didn’t deliver on which disappointed me. Over all, if you enjoy complicated weird stories, then you will enjoy BLACK MOON but if you are like me and enjoy a rich dynamic storyline then I would pass on this one.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement