Rae of Light

For several years I’ve set myself the challenge of reading a certain amount of books per year. The idea first came to me when I joined Goodreads as an author in 2016 and noticed they had a facility for logging reads and reviews as well as calculating your reads annually. I initially thought of using it as a teaching aid since I had a great deal of reluctant readers in my tutoring rota. How great it would be for them to chart their reading progress and also instil the practice of writing reviews as it was a required part of KS3 learning. Kill 2 things with wings and all that. I decided to follow the maxim: do as I do. Besides, I feel that children need role models for the good things in life as well as the bad.   Following the success of this first calculated reading venture , the Goodreads challenge became an annual thing and nothing difficult for me to accomplish since I read voraciously and had always done so. After my dad died it did however become a serious challenge. His dea...

It was 19 December and I still had 17 books left to read to complete my Goodreads challenge. I was convinced I wouldn’t reach my 100 book target before the end of 2018. So I decided to indulge in a spot of cheating by raiding the reading closets and shelves of the students on my tutoring rounds. Anyone who has followed my blog will know I have a bit of previous in this regard. Exhibit A Once more, my students did not let me down. They brought their books to me like Wise Men offering their presents up to baby Jesus. Huge thanks to the Chowdury children for trusting me with their treasured collection. You set me on the road to achieving my goal when all seemed lost and gave me the opportunity to read my first ever Peppa Pig . Thank you also for handing over  Little Miss Splendid to boost my reading power and self-esteem. Due to this generous reading donation my unreachable target moved towards something achievable. My next stop was the children’s section of Tat...

  Setting a reading challenge is the easy bit. Go to Goodreads homepage Click on annual reading challenge Pick a number of books to read for the year Go to… Read! Mmmmm. I’ve done the 100 book challenge previously as some of you know. When it was completed I vowed Never Again! Obviously, like those who experience the pangs of childbirth and then go on to deliver countless more sprogs despite the agony – I too decided to feel the burn just once more. “So why put yourself through it?” I hear you ask. “To encourage reluctant readers I teach by getting them to do a mini challenge of their own and compare notes. To see their excitement when they tell me they’ve finished a book I set. To read, just for the love of reading. And because I’m just a little bit crazy too.” So here I am, more than half way through the year and only at 70%. My Goodreads dashboard informs me I'm 6 books behind schedule. I’m feeling the pressure, especially since I pulled it ...

The Sigma Surrogate  by J T Lawrence Genre : Dystopian Cyberpunk Audience : Anyone into either genre Reader Rating : 4 STARS This book is the prequel to the When Tomorrow Calls series. It is my very first Cyberpunk read and I was not disappointed. The Johannesburg setting immediately sucked me in as did the very vibrant central character of Keke, a biopunk journalist. Along with Keke are several supporting characters which are as colourful as our protagonist. The story involves a mysterious bombing at a surrogate facility. Naturally, Keke, being who she is feels the need to investigate fully. During the course of her investigation Keke meets a badly injured young surrogate (victim of the bombing) who she is drawn to. It furthers her resolve to find those responsible. There are elements of The Handmaid’s Tale lurking in artificial lawned environs and very sexy peripheral characters on the outskirts too. The dialogue is unmistakeably South African and had m...

Over several months now I’ve been using Instafreebie to ensure I’m not spending hundreds of pounds in my bid to complete my Goodreads annual reading challenge. Sometimes the reads are totally amazing. At other times not so much. I was getting irritated by the endless run of so so reads lately, these are the ones which fall into 3 star or below category for me. It made me forget the list of great authors I’ve found through the site so far such as: Helena Rookwood , Devyn Jayse , Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli and Lana Hart . Thankfully I started a book which reminded me that perseverance pays off. It was so good I resolved to share it with you which also got me thinking about a monthly feature. Why the hell not I thought. So I'll be re-featuring the above authors too as well as any others which catch my attention in the coming months. _________________________________________________________ This month’s offering: Seeker by Amy Reece Genre : Paranormal Audience : Y...

#Review: HAGSTONE by Helena Rookwood A 4 star read I liked how I was immediately thrown into the action with the central character, Madeleine. The world she and her family inhabit is well described and I was able to picture its various elements very well. This is a bonus for someone like me who has trouble with geography in general. The place descriptions allowed me to create a world picture of where I was and feel that I inhabited this place with the characters. The main tension is set up by an unusual cast of characters, including Madeleine’s young daughter and her mother-in-law who exhibits witch-like traits. Add to this Madeleine’s secrets about her past and the growing tension between herself and her husband and you get an intriguing set of circumstances. The book is essential a quest novel. At the beginning we learn that Madeleine’s quest has been curtailed. As her daughter has grown from baby to toddler and nears teen hood, Madeleine’s desire to resume her ques...

#Review: BLAZE by Devyn Jayse A 4 star read The main character, Vincent is living in the insalubrious world of the Blights with his younger sister Penny. They are orphans striving to survive in a harsh world. Vincent has his set of friends and a burning anger fuelled by the unfairness of the situation he is forced to live in. Suddenly a series of fires begins to engulf the district. People are afraid and accusations start flying. This is an engaging read with good characters and well a created setting. I felt I was in the shady world of the Blights with Vincent. The idea of a divide between The Blights and The Town is made very clear to the reader. Vincent’s cohort of friends are interesting and the description of the bond between them is realistic as it also charts the scuffles which can often occur between a friendship group of boys or young men. Further suspense is created by pushing Vincent into a situation where he’s forced to prove his innocence concerning several...