February | 2015 | Lost in a Good Book

Library Lovers’ Day 2015

09 Feb 2015 1 Comment

by Amy in General Tags: libraries, library lovers' day, library lovers' day 2015

Valentines Day is just around the corner, but for all the book lovers out there it is also known as Library Lovers’ Day. A day of affection and appreciation not for the person in your life, but for the love of libraries and books. Libraries are not just about books anymore, there are so many great things to do there and it is wonderful there is an occasion to celebrate them. Officially February is also Library Month, a whole 28 days to celebrate the marvel that is the library, but 14th Feb is singled out as Library Lovers’ Day.

Head down to your local library and see what the great librarians and cupid have cooked up to celebrate the love of libraries. My library is offering Blind (Book) Dates where books are wrapped in plain paper to add an air of mystery to your book choices, they’ve also got a range of activities for everyone including writing your favourite book title on hearts and sticking them on the wall for everyone to see and gain ideas from. Every library is different so see what great things your library has available, you never know what you’ll find. If your library is not participating never fear! Show your love anyway by perusing their shelves and borrowing something on a whim, ask other people for their favourite books and read that, or even returning to an old favourite, maybe even suggest they participate next year!

For information about Library Lovers’ Day you can check out the Australian Library and Information Association information page, or have a look at the fun links included below where you can see last year’s event, or get some great resources like social media images, stickers, bookmarks, and more!

Have a wonderful Library Lovers’ Day and fall in love with a book today!

All Your Fun Bits and Pieces Needs

Australian Library and Information Association Facebook

Highlights from Library Lover’s Day 2014

Browse the #librarylove tag on Twitter

Learn How to Get Involved

Mad Dog Justice by Mark Rubinstein

06 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Mystery, Thriller Tags: ebook, four stars, mark rubinstein, mystery, thriller

Published: 1st September 2014
Publisher: Thunder Lake Press
Pages: 328
Format: ebook
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Roddy Dolan, a surgeon, and Danny Burns, an accountant, are being hunted as prey. Someone is after them with lethal intentions but they don’t know who or why. Whoever it is, and for whatever reason, they and their families are in the crosshairs of killers. Everything they know is unravelling. They must hide, send their families away, abandon their homes, and leave their lives behind.

The second book in the Mad Dog series, Mad Dog Justice is a harrowing tale of friendship, morality, betrayal, and dire consequences.

Note: I was provided a copy of this book for review

This is the second book in the series but Rubinstein writes it in such a way that you don’t need to have read the first in order to understand what is happening or who these guys are. Through conversations, flashbacks, thoughts, and memories the events in the first book are explained fairly well so that nothing is left unanswered or confusing for the reader. If you haven’t read the first book (like I hadn’t), then a great air of mystery is present having not known the past and you seek to find out something that the main characters already know about, but this does not take anything away from the book it simply adds curiosity on our part and a desire to find out.

Roddy as a character is curious, he is rough around the edges at times, and comes off as a little bit needy. Whilst on the run he laments often about his wife, every woman he meets reminds him of her in some arbitrary way, and it gets a bit much at times. Donny, on the other hand, tries to suppress his moral dilemma and the fear of being hunted by persons unknown and prays a lot in order to justify to himself their past actions.

The way Rubinstein has constructed the narrative is clever and with realism. Hiding from questioning police, running away from friends and family, while also trying to track down potential killers is a lot harder that it seems, especially in the modern world and Rubinstein explores that.

For a surgeon and an accountant they are quite skilled at being on the run and in hiding. They may not be professionals but there is certainly some skill. Roddy tells us numerous times he has had ranger training so he understands how to hide and leave no trace. Roddy is the main narrator so we find out more about his past and youth than Donny’s. At times Roddy seemed a bit arrogant and a bit too proud of his youth and his reputation. It was easy to see past Roddy and present Roddy as different people, Mad Dog versus the skilled surgeon, but as the story progresses it is clear there is still part of Roddy who remains Mad Dog.

With Roddy and Donny unsure exactly why it is they are being targeted, it adds a great element to the story. As readers we do not know, and as characters they have theories but are not certain, leading to assumptions being made and stress and panic over past behaviour. Even when their theories are eventually revealed, there is still a great suspense just in the fact that they are uncertain and it shows that the explanation and the story itself may not be as simple as it first looked.

I enjoyed how Rubinstein chose to end this story, after the events in the book and the actions of Roddy and Donny it was unexpected but not displeasing and it suited the story wonderfully. The story is clever and real but is also filled with danger and mystique that makes real life a little bit more interesting and certainly not as simple as it appears.

You can purchase Mad Dog Justice via the following

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon (Kindle)

Two for the Heart (#1) by Ekta R. Garg

02 Feb 2015 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Romance, Short Stories, Stories in Pairs Tags: ekta r garg, four stars, romance, short story, Stories in Pairs

Published: 3rd February 2015
Publisher: Prairie Sky Publishing
Pages: 77
Format: ebook
Genre: Short stories/Romance
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

A man and a woman get their divorce papers right after the wedding. A woman learns she’s suffering from amnesia. Two stories about relationships and the power of love. Two stories with characters to remember. Two stories for the heart.
“The Proposal”: Pooja and Akshay don’t want to bother with relationships, but they get cornered into marriage. The two devise a fool-proof plan: get married, then get their divorce papers ready. But will they have the guts to go through with the break up?
“Remembrance”: Helen wakes up in the hospital, but she has no idea how she got there. Everyone dodges the question…and then the sister she hasn’t spoken to in 11 years arrives. Why is she here? And will Helen ever remember what happened?

Note: I was provided with a copy of this book from the author for review.

Garg’s collection of stories is a wonderful read that explores relationships and the power love has in those relationships. The two stories, “The Proposal” and “Remembrance”, follow very different narratives but each demonstrate that love can be a very powerful tool and motivator.

I think I enjoyed the first story, “The Proposal”, more than the second, and while I enjoyed the mystery of the second story, the story itself in the first was quite heart warming and sweet.

Both of these stories are quite short, but you really are able to get a sense of character quite well. Garg expresses and explores her characters through their personalities and in part through their actions which adds a great layer of complexities to them. There is also less focus on unnecessary scenes or intense description or detail, meaning the human aspects are the main focus and the relationships they have with others is a driving force to the narrative.

There are some surprises in the stories, not greatly shocking or twist worthy per se, but Garg holds back and keeps secrets, and she also leads the reader and tells them one thing while leaving possibilities open for other things, offering doubt and intrigue.

It is also a nice idea connecting the stories and Garg does this with style and simplicity without losing any of the quality. The overlap suits both narratives while not interrupting the flow of each individual story and adds another layer in doing so. Having the cross over so simple is a great example of how people connect with one another in the real world. Both these stories show that the main character of one story can be a background character in another and even be unrelated to the main character at all.

But I think what makes them work is that being connected makes you realise everyone has a story to tell; and being a background character in someone’s story does not mean you are not the main character of your own story. Which sounds very philosophical I’ll admit, but I did find myself thing about that when I had finished reading, very clever, intentional or otherwise, on Garg’s behalf.

You can easily see how each of these stories could be extended in to a longer one, even a novel if you tried hard enough, but why it works so well keeping it this length is that is keeps the main parts of the story in focus while not losing out on the content or quality.

You can purchase Two for the Heart via the following

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords