Caragh Reviews - The Christmas Bake Off by Abby Clements

Published - 20th December 2012
Publisher - Quercus
Format - Kindle
Synopsis - With Christmas just around the corner, the residents of Skipley village are gearing up for the annual bake off, and tensions are high. Winning means a lot to everyone involved - talented cake-shop owner Katie dreams of baking stardom, Rachel wants to prove she's more than a stay-at-home mum, and John hopes his culinary skills will impress the woman he loves. But when the judges discover that some cakes have been tampered with, the villagers' loyalties are called into question - whose ambition would stretch to sabotage, and why? The Christmas Bake-Off is an exclusive short story from Abby Clements, author of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. This ebook edition also includes bonus recipes for cinnamon cookies and vanilla and almond biscuits.

With the holidays coming (already!) I've been hunting the Kindle Store for quick festive reads. I can't remember if this one was free but even if it wasn't, it was dirt cheap! 

For a short story, it featured an array of characters, a little mystery and a burst of festive joy - which is all you really want from it. Personally I wasn't overly impressed but I always have this sense of unfinished business when I read short stories. I know that the point of them is to be brief and to the point but I always think they have so much more potential that just never gets given to us!

However, it was fun and cute, and this particular edition came with free recipes for Christmassy cookies which I genuinely am interested in trying! Also, be prepared to be absolutely craving big fancy cakes after reading this book.

Caragh Reviews - A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Published - 30th January 2007
Publisher - Penguin
Format - Kindle
Synopsis - John Carter, a Civil War veteran, inexplicably finds himself held prisoner on the planet Mars by the Green Men of Thark. With Dejah Thoris, the princess of another clan on Mars, John Carter must fight for their freedom and save the entire planet from destruction, as the life-sustaining Atmosphere Factory slowly grinds to a halt. The first of eleven in the series.

I'm not entirely sure how i've spent my whole life being unaware of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but when a friend suggest that I read this I figured it could be fun to try out a new author.

When I started reading, I was quite skeptical. Though there were no faults with Burrough's writing style, the content was definitely questionable to me. The first problem I had was that John Carter just wasn't likeable! It's not a necessity to like the main character but it sure helps. Carter seemed arrogant and full of himself. Sentences like "My mind is evidently so constituted that I am subconsciously forced into the path of duty without recourse to tiresome mental processes. However that may be, I have never regretted that cowardice is not optional for me" - are obviously beautifully written but are so damn frustrating! I am happy to say though that once you get half way through, Carter's self indulgences are barely even noticeable and I found myself actually liking him. 

It was really interesting seeing how Carter, a man of Earth, interacted and integrated himself into the community of Barsoom. Though they are two very different cultures there were many similiarities. Carter learned a lot from the people of Barsoom and vice versa. The subject of laughter and humour was one point of interest; how the same action can mean a variety of things. As I was reading there was a feeling of vague familiarity and eventually it dawned on me that it felt a lot like Gulliver's Travels and honestly - once I realised that I enjoyed the book a lot more. It was easier to really understand what I was reading. 

Burrough's uses long and intensive descriptions and you have to read a significant portion of the book before there is even any dialogue. Part of this is obviously due to the language barriers between the characters but I think it's really the staple of the book. No speech allows for these lengthy descriptions which fully develop the world that Burroughs is creating and also allows a deeper look at Carter himself and the culture that he belongs to. I also feel that Burroughs uses sections of A Princess to Mars to discuss political beliefs (such as Communism). I'm not aware of his personal beliefs but it was interesting to read nonetheless. 

A Princess of Mars has a LOT of action and drama. Carter is never safe or content and one adventure immediately leads to the next. The book ended on a major cliffhanger too which makes you want to read more no matter how you found the story! Though for the majority of the book I wasn't really feeling it, by the end I enjoyed the whole thing and i'm looking forward to seeing what is next for John Carter.

INTRODUCING: Book To Film

I'm here introducing another new segment for Loaded Shelves today! A lot of bloggers and booktuber's are doing these and we had a discussion about the book/film adaptations that we've seen and have things to comment on. If you'll remember, Brianna did one of these a while ago for Casino Royale.

We have a few ideas floating around for the book/film's that we want to do but as always, if there are any recommendations you have then please send them our way! The first one will be up before the end of the month so keep an eye out for that.

Let us know: What are your best and worse adaptations?

Also - We're on Bloglovin now!
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9446781/?claim=ntqcv8hqm22">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

INTRODUCING: Shakespeare Made Simple

The two of us here at Loaded Shelves often have really nerdy and lengthy talks about Shakespeare, his plays and his relevance in today's society. Caragh is a self-professed Shakespeare fanatic and wrote her Undergraduate dissertation on the Big Man and Brianna has never read a word. I know, I know - how can we have a conversation about Shakespeare if Brianna has never read his work? Well, there are other ways and over the year we are going to explore different mediums to access the plays without reading them but still gain the understanding of each one.

We hope that by sharing the things we find, it will encourage you (and Brianna) to pick up the play afterwards, once you have grasped a basic understanding of what's going on!

Every month we will share with you what we are looking at pertaining to one Shakespeare play and at the end of the third month, we'll combine everything together into one big post where Brianna will reveal whether she was interested enough to read the real play, whether she will pick it up in the future, or whether regardless of the easy accessible versions she just isn't interested.
So in a nutshell: 3 months, 3 new ways of discovering a specific Shakespeare play!

First up is Macbeth so look out for our first new material later on this month.

INTRODUCING: Classics Decoded

How many times have you sat there thinking, "I'm going to read that classic!" If you're anything like me, that is only ever when i'm forced to (pushy parents/teachers). So what is it that puts you off?
Length? Outdated? Stuffy? Irrelevant? Complicated language?

That's what I think too, but you know what? It's actually not true! Many of the books  we consider as "classic lit" are still very much relevant and worth a read - or so Caragh tells me. Over the course of the year we are going to try to decode 6 classics - 2 of which YOU can choose! We will read the books for you and break it down, try to make it more accessible and tell you why it actually is relevant. Whatever your reasons are for avoiding the classics, we hope we can inspire you (and ourselves!) to finally pick up that classic that you've always wondered about without getting your brain in a muddle.

The first book we're going to look at is Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. Our post about Dracula will be up in February so feel free to read along with us before we reveal what we've found next month!

Leave comments with suggestions for the 2 classic lit books YOU want US to read and decode!

Caragh Reviews - Witch Finder by Ruth Warburton

Published - 2nd January 2014
Publisher - Hodder
Format - Kindle
Synopsis - London. 1880. In the slums of Spitalfields apprentice blacksmith Luke is facing initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum, the fearsome brotherhood dedicated to hunting and killing witches. Luke’s final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke knows that tonight will change his life forever. But when he picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, Luke has no idea that his task will be harder than he could ever imagine.

I was a big fan of Ruth Warburton's Winter Trilogy and was getting increasingly excited for her new release, Witch Finder. I received this book to review in early November.

Witch Finder started off well and was really intrguing. Luke's life seems simple enough until we see him taking part in a ritual for the Malleus Malefictorum - a secret brotherhood of witch hunters. Luke has his personal reasons for joining and is completely dedicated to following in the footsteps of those around him - that is until he meets his initiation target, Rosa Greenwood. 

Throughout the book Luke has many trials to face and he even learns about himself - as every good protagonist does. I love that Warburton carried over some of the same ideas she put forth in the Winter Trilogy and still used words such as 'outwith'. It made it seem more realistic after having read about them previously. Witch Finder wasn't what I expected at all - I thought it would be a similar style to her previous books but surprisingly it was very different. It clearly isn't set in a modern time period (which I LOVE!) and the whole thing felt both new and fresh but homely and comforting. It's quite a dark book actually. Of course it features romance, coming of age, family matters as almost all YA books do but it takes it to a darker place.

Admittedly, I thought the pacing was a bit slow. I'm not sure whether it's just the format of the e-copy I received or whether the printed book is the same but there were really long chapters! It was a while ago that I read it now but I think there may not have been real specific chapters at all, though the ending of the book totally made up for the occasional lack of action/intrigue. I believe i'm right in saying this is going to be a series and if so it has great potential. I'll be looking forward to seeing what the consequences are.

Caragh Reviews - Anyone But You by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Published - 18th January 2014
Publisher - Merit Press
Format - Kindle
Synopsis - (At the time of writing, no synopsis is available)

My review of Exposure

My review of Tempestuous

I read this book quite a long time ago now after receiving an email from the lovely Kim and Amy informing me that it was now available to review! I absolutely adore the Twisted Lit series and so I immediately read it on the spot.

Anyone But You is the 3rd Twisted Lit novel and this time Askew & Helmes take on Romeo and Juliet. Many years ago I did a research project on R&J and in the process I discovered a lot of different 'spins' regarding the Star Cross'd Lovers and so I was a little nervous that i'd already know what was going on but that totally wasn't the case. At all.
From the start I was intrigued by the characters and wow, there are a LOT! One of the things I most enjoy about the Twisted Lit series is guessing which character is 'supposed' to be whom from the original tale because despite similarities, each character really does have their own personalities and sometimes it can be a little tricky!

For a long time I wasn't really sure where the story was going. I couldn't figure out how Anyone But You was going to be Romeo & Juliet - but that's what is so beautiful about these books. They are the essence of Shakespeare but they are truly something else. The story swapped and changed between two times/eras, and many different scenarios and characters and so it was never boring and Askew & Helmes offered up something new with almost every page. I found myself really rushing through the whole book because I just couldn't wait to find out what was happening - and with who! I really loved the way that the modern day drama and the family feud drama of the past worked so well together before culminating in the final showdown where everything is revealed. The story flowed slowly as everything naturally happened but there was never any slow moments - I hope that makes sense! Everything was relevant and pushed the plot forward without feeling like it was forced.

I was really happy to find that there was a good balance between romance and family feuding in Anyone But You. I know that sounds obvious due to it being R&J based but with a lot of adaptations i've found that the romance always wins out in the main story and I don't think that was the case this time. It's really difficult to find new, GOOD & modern Shakespeare material because it's been so popular for so many years but yet again Askew & Helmes rocked it and the only problem I have now is waiting to find out what & when the next one is!