BLOG TOUR! Extract from The Rebel by Jaime Raven

  

Welcome  to my stop on Jaime Raven's blog tour! Today I've got an exclusive extract for you from The Rebel...and it's a cracker! Sit back, relax and read on....

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It didn’t take long for Roy Slack to reveal his plan to Danny Carver. It was a simple one, after all.

Danny’s reaction was predictable. His jaw dropped and the colour retreated from his face.

‘Is this a fucking joke, boss?’ he said, his voice stretched thin with shock. ‘Because if it ain’t, then I think you might have lost your marbles.’

Slack stood up and stepped out from behind his desk. It was uncomfortably warm in the office so he slipped off his cardigan and threw it on the chair. His white shirt had dark patches of sweat under each armpit.

He crossed the room to the cabinet with the bottles of spirits on top.

‘Care for a whisky, Danny?’ he asked.

‘Too bloody right I do,’ Danny answered. ‘And please make it a large one because I think I need it.’

Slack smiled to himself as he poured out triples of his finest malt, flown down from his favourite distillery in the Highlands.

He handed a glass to Danny. ‘You’ve been with me a long time, mate, and you’re the only person in this world who I’d trust with my life. It’s why I’ve told you what I intend to do and it’s the reason I’m now going to tell you why I want to do it.’

Danny’s hard face fisted into a frown and he rolled out his bottom lip.

‘Well, I’m all ears, boss,’ he said.

Slack sat down beside him on the sofa and sipped at his whisky.

‘I also need you to know that you’re going to be well looked after whatever happens,’ he said. ‘I’m going to transfer a large sum of cash into your offshore account first thing in the morning. If the firm survives then you can stick around if you want to. If it doesn’t you’ll have the option to fuck off abroad and enjoy an early retirement.’

Danny’s frown deepened and he tilted his head to one side.

‘Sounds to me like you’ve given a lot of thought to this, boss,’ he said. 

Slack nodded. ‘It’s been rolling around inside my head for weeks. Now I can’t wait to get on with it.’

Danny grinned, showing off his two gold teeth. 

‘Well, it sure is an insane idea,’ he said. ‘But for what it’s worth I reckon the fuckers have it coming. Most of ’em are more crooked than we are.’

Slack knew he could depend on Danny not to fill his nappy at the thought of what was going to happen. They didn’t call him The Rottweiler for nothing. He was a man of violence, a crazy fuck, who had maimed and killed more men than he could probably remember. 

He was also fiercely loyal and had carried out heinous crimes on Slack’s behalf without a second’s thought. He was completely devoid of empathy and compassion.

For that reason Slack had absolutely no doubt that he would be able to count on him in the days and weeks ahead. 

‘So come on, boss,’ Danny said. ‘There’s no way you’d be set on doing this just to hang on to what you’ve got. There has to be something else, something that you’ve been keeping close to your chest.’

So Slack told him, and for the first time since they’d met, Danny Carver was lost for words.

Review // Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Published: 5th April
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Format: Kindle
Synopsis: Sam and Ilsa Kehlmann have spent most of their high school years throwing dinner parties, and now they’ve prepared their final blowout, just before graduation. The rules for the twins are simple: they each get to invite three guests, and the other twin doesn’t know who’s coming until the guests show up at the door. With Sam and Ilsa, the sibling revelry is always tempered with a large dose of sibling rivalry, and tonight is no exception. One night. One apartment. Eight people. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, we all know the answer is plenty. But plenty also goes right – in rather surprising ways.

Writing this review is going to be one of the hardest things i've ever done - because I really just did not like it. It hurts even to type that! Rachel Cohn & David Levithan have been my writing duo heroes for a LONG time now. Their books are my absolute favourites (particularly Dash & Lily) and there are literally no words to describe how happy I was when I found out they were releasing a new book - and that I got it early. So what went wrong? *sigh*

Right from the off I disliked both Sam & Ilsa which is uh, kind of a big problem when the entire book is about them, their relationship with each other and their relationship with everyone else. I honestly just didn't care what they were going through. They were pretentious, terrible friends and really annoying to have to be with for an extended period of time.

It was really difficult to keep track of who was talking, which POV I was in etc as there wasn't a lot of substance to Sam or Ilsa for me to be able to easily identify them. It almost felt like Cohn & Levithan were trying really hard to be wacky with the dinner guests but they were actually completely overlooked. It was nearing the end of the book before I could even remember who their friend were. I think at one point a character appeared after being missing for a while and it genuinely took me a hot second to realise they weren't a new character and/or that that character had even been gone. It was kind of all over the place.

I'd say the most interesting character was their Grandmother and she didn't even feature in the book other than someone they occasionally talked about. I considered that maybe I was just too old to enjoy these books now but I was 100% here for Twelve Days of Dash & Lily book which only came out early last year so it can't be that. It's going to be very interesting to go and read reviews after this and see what everyone else thinks about it!

I wanted to love it wholeheartedly. I want Sam & Ilsa to be added to my list of fictional best friends. I wanted to throw a dinner party inspired by this book. None of those things happened. Honestly, I over-rated it on Goodreads purely because there's a sneaky little Nick & Norah reference and I was so overwhelmingly happy about it that I momentarily forgot that this didn't meet my standards.

I still love Cohn & Levithan. I'm going to definitely re-read this in a few months and reevaluate my opinion (we all have months of meh reading!). I haven't given up! But for now, if you're wanting something to blow you away - this isn't it.

Review // Big Bones by Laura Dockrill

Published: 8th March 2018
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Format: Kindle
Synopsis: A heart-warming teen story from the unique voice of Laura Dockrill, about Bluebelle, aka BB, aka Big Bones - a sixteen-year-old girl encouraged to tackle her weight even though she's perfectly happy, thank you, and getting on with her life and in love with food. Then a tragedy in the family forces BB to find a new relationship with her body and herself. Moving, memorable and hilarious.

There has been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about this one, and rightly so. Laura Dockrill's Big Bones is the first book i've read since Dumplin that focuses on larger girls and body positivity. I would have LOVED all of this new focus on body positivity whilst I was growing up and it's so important that we get this right for our future generations. However maybe it's a little late for me now.

As much as I LOVED the idea of Big Bones and the pitch behind it, I felt like the book itself didn't quite meet my expectations. I thought it would actually be written in a diary-like style but it was just blocks of texts with the heading of a food. It took a long time (too long, honestly) for me to realise that the actually 'diary' part wasn't going to come.

I also didn't find those bites of humour that were promised to me in other reviews and comments from friends. Did I miss something? I found it to be quite heavy given the context of the book and any attempts at humour just flew right past me I guess. I feel like this review is a bit of a downer and it shouldn't be. I DID enjoy the book for what it was, it's just I massively feel like i've missed something compared to other reviews. It wasn't an eye opening masterpiece for me.

The romance was disappointing too. It wasn't necessary and felt like it was only there to scream 'fat girls can be loved too!!!!1!' - nobody wants that. As a fat girl myself, I *know* fat girls can be loved, beautiful, smart, independent etc - being fat has literally nothing to do with any of that and it was a little condescending to have this pointed out in a book about body positivity.

It was however a very quick read, I got through most of it in-between bits and pieces at work. It was interesting and will appeal to a lot of girls out there and I think Big Bones is going to go far in the book world - it just didn't hit the right notes for me.

Review // Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher

Published: 22^nd February 2018

Publisher: Puffin

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: A little girl discovers that eating ice cream from her grandfather's old ice-cream truck gives her the power to travel through time, in this brilliant, funny and heartwarming story from bestselling author Tom Fletcher.

This gorgeously illustrated (by Shane Devries) book was written and released especially for World Book Day. I have so many wonderful memories of World Book Day from when I was a child and though I no longer get that special £1 book token to commemorate it, I do still always get one of the WBD books to hold on to that little tradition.

Since i'm still on my No Purchases in 2018 thing, Brain Freeze was actually a gift from my stepdad, perhaps a little forced but a gift nonetheless! I love Tom Fletcher's children's books and wasn't too happy about missing out this year - thankfully I didn't have to. Thanks Eif!

The main character is Izzy and I immediately loved her. She's bold, sassy and knows exactly what she wants in life - ice cream! Izzy's grandfather has the job that we can only dream of; an ice cream man. Brain Freeze isn't a light easy read despite its size and target audience. It tugs at your heart strings and the worries of children all around the world with an entertaining twist. Tom Fletcher is excellent at writing about tough situations that are tangible and relatable to children without being too severe or downtrodden and Brain Freeze is no exception.

Brain Freeze is a genuinely lovely story about a little girl and her love for her grandpa - and ice cream. it's an absolute steal for just £1 and is available in all local bookshops and supermarkets.

Letters Between Friends: Dear Holly

Dear Holly, (In response to: Dear Cazz #4)

Brrrr! You're right about the weather - WTH?! It's extremely rare that we get snow here as we're on the coast but there was inches and inches of it over the week. Probably only my 2nd time of seeing real snow in Wales! *I'll edit this post with photos when I finish work*. Sadly I didn't get any days off work though so I just spent a lot of time dreaming about being snuggled in my reading room with blankets and tea.

Omg Les Mis is touring?! I had no idea. I'm trying to avoid social media as much as possible and have deleted all but Insta & Twitter apps for now. Please keep me updated on ticket release and prices etc. I would absolutely LOVE to go and see it with you if possible. Maybe if they go on sale soonish I could convince someone to get me a ticket for my birthday - it's almost the big 30 for me eeeek.

I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience with the WotW DVD - Kerry Ellis is my Elphaba (Wicked) so i'd love to see it. I couldn't miss the chance to see Carrie in action again though.

Renegades sounds AMAZING! I'll add it to my list of things to read in 2019 (oh god, that sounds like a lifetime away.) I've been accepted for quite a few things on Netgalley and had a couple of things in the post from publishers so i'm happy to say my reading has been going uphill for the first time in a long time. It helps that there's a new Levithan & Cohn book out and is sitting waiting for me on my Kindle when I finish my current reads. Nothing gets me going like those two! :)

Alex injured his ankle at work on Saturday so we spent a couple of hours in A&E getting him checked out. It's just a sprain/tissue damage but he's been ordered to stay off it for as long as possible. It's great at keeping him out of my way but it does however mean that i've got all of the house related stuff to do by myself *sigh*. Hopefully it means we're in for a quick week at work though and can get some relaxing in at the weekend. We won't be able to go anywhere as the car can't drive itself so what a perfect way to catch up on some things. I'm also looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day on Sunday. Aren't our Mum's the best?!

I hope things quieten down for you and you manage to get some blogging time in soon and/or reading but don't feel pressured to do anything. JUST DO YOU!

Ending as always with my Goodreads Challenge update: I'm currently on 14/50 which is 5 more than last time.

Review // Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

Published: 8^th February 2018

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Format: e-Book

Synopsis: Lily wakes up one crisp Sunday morning on the side of the road. She has no idea how she got there. It is all very peaceful and beautiful. It is only when the police car, and then the ambulance arrive, and she sees her own body that she realises that she is in fact... dead. But what is she supposed to do now? Lily has no option but to follow her body and see her family - her parents and her twin brother start falling apart. And then her twin brother Ben gives her a once in a deathtime opportunity - to use his own body for a while. But will Lily give Ben his body back? She is beginning to have a rather good time...

Thank you to Hot Key Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sunflowers in February is Phyllisa Shrimpton’s debut novel so I didn’t really know what to expect – which is exactly why I couldn’t wait to get started on it. I must admit, a little bit of the draw was how much I love things to match – reading a book with February in the title, *in* February? Yes please! I’m easily amused by small things....

Right from the off the book had me, truly and completely, in its grips. Lily is a flawed character and it’s not tried to be covered up. In fact, it’s her flaws that really make the book what it is – which is a beautiful book that reflects upon a person’s need to discover what it’s like to really live. Lily has to deal with discovering her own dead body and how her absence from the world affects those around her. Often, she has little regard for anyone else’s feelings bar her own but again, this is just one of her flaws that is both acknowledged and worked on throughout the book.

It’s important to point out too, that this isn’t just a book about Lily. It’s about her parents, her twin brother, her friends, and more importantly about the reader. I know that I at least found myself wondering about the differences I have made in people’s lives and whether the life that I lead on a daily basis is one that ultimately will bring me happiness. I don’t mean in a religious way either, just whether i’ll be able to look back and feel like *i’ve* lived the best life I could.

The discovery of Lily’s killer and the consequences of that are just one factor to keep you reading but it isn’t held as a turning point for the book itself, just a turning point for Lily as a character and what she has learned about herself and her life. Though it’s an emotional and sad book, it’s not all inner reflections and a big ol’ cry fest. Of course at the heart of it, that’s what you get, but on the surface it’s a really simple and easy book to read.  Let me a bit less positive for a moment though.

The whole feeling of the book changes at around 3^rd of the way in. The body swapping, other dimensional aspect just felt absurdly strange considering the beautiful heartfelt writing that preceded it.  It got easier to take as the book went further on but at times it felt a little ridiculous and really took the book on a different path. It didn’t lessen the meaning of the book, but I think it will suffer slightly due to the ‘freaky Friday’ feelings that came from it.

Overall though it was a great read. I couldn’t put it down and it’s stayed with me after the fact of reading it which is quite rare these days! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Shrimpton.