In the small town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1980’s, Jason Lee Rainey struggles to find his way amongst the old, steadfast Southern attitudes about race, while his friendship with a black boy, Samson Johnson, deepens. 
By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn’t believe he has it in him. 

In The Clock Of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father’s son. 

This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.

Okay, so before I get into this review, I just want to apologize ahead of time if I sound negative as I explain my thoughts. But as always I strive to give you all my honest review.

When looking at the cover, and if you know me well enough or have just read a few of my reviews then you know this doesn’t look like the usual book I go for. If you guessed it, you’re right! The cover is a little plain, has neutral colours and goes pretty well with the book. The cover does its job, and matches the title of the book.

Even though the cover isn’t usually the type I would pick up in the store, or grab at the library, I couldn’t resist giving it a shot after listening to all the amazing things Nancy Klann-Moren told me about her story! I also did a little research online, and found that many other book bloggers really enjoyed it, and were happy that they got the chance to read it.

My favorite type of book, in the ENTIRE world, is a book that I would usually never give a try, but do, and completely fall in love with the story and its characters!  I like when books prove me wrong, I guess. But at the end of the day, The Clock of Life wasn’t one of those books… While I did see all the qualities many reviewers raved about, ultimately it just wasn’t for me.

Going into reading The Clock of Life, I was actually excited to get started and see if I also enjoyed it as much as everyone else seemed to have. But overall the story was a bit confusing to me, maybe because I was picking it up and putting it back down often, instead of reading in longer sittings.

In general I was just having a hard time keeping up with the story, the characters and everything that was going on. I was entirely confused about the death of Jason’s father, the death of his friend, his mother’s mental state and his racist neighbor; as well as how all that tied together.

Going in with an open mind, The Clock of Life did have quite some potential. While the story wasn’t for me, I do see why many others liked it! If the synopsis sounds like something you would enjoy, I say go for it as I think you will! 

“Kitty is living a happy, carefree life as a dairymaid in the countryside. The grand family she is employed by looks after her well, and she loves her trade, caring for the gentle cows and working in the cool, calm dairy. And then, of course, there is Will, the river man who she thinks is very fond of her, and indeed she is of him. Surely he will ask her to marry him soon? Then one day disaster strikes: Will disappears. Kitty is first worried and then furious. She fears that Will has only been leading her on all this time, and has now gone to London to make his fortune, forgetting about her completely. So when Kitty is asked to go to London to pick up a copy of Pride and Prejudice, the latest novel by the very fashionable Jane Austen, Kitty leaps at the chance to track down Will. But Kitty has no idea how vast London is, and how careful she must be. It is barely a moment before eagle-eyed pickpockets have spotted the country-born-and-bred Kitty and relieved her of her money and belongings. Dauntingly fast, she has lost her only means of returning home and must face the terrifying prospect of stealing in order to survive – and of being named a thief …”

After recently posting about Austen and August, I think this is a fitting review to follow the trend of historical fiction.

From the little dairy in the country side to the overwhelming bustle of London, Kitty gets herself into, and out of, trouble better than you would expect of a woman from the Austen era. She is hardly a simpering air-head. Her trusting heart and moral compass can be blamed for a fair bit of the heart stopping drama. Even I wanted to stamp my foot at Will.

Highlights in the book for me were the graceful way in which Kitty panders to the wishes of her employers’ daughters. They want her to teach the cow to do… what?!

I find my tastes don’t usually run to historical fiction, or even really to the classics, however I thoroughly loved The Disgrace of Kitty Grey. It’s short, sweet and balanced well, especially for the uninitiated, like me.

I suggest this one for an outdoor read on a Spring afternoon with a snack of brie and crackers.

http://www.maryhooper.co.uk/

Paperback, 288 pages

Published May 9th 2013 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books (first published January 1st 2013)

ISBN: 1408826711 (ISBN13: 9781408827611)

 “Jeff discovers he’s a serial killer clone—and he’s got to track down others like him before it’s too late. A thrilling YA companion to S&S Touchstone’s Cain’s Blood, releasing simultaneously.

This dark, literary thriller is a story about blood: specifically, the DNA of the world’s most notorious serial killers, captured and cloned by the Department of Defense to develop a new “breed” of bio-weapons. The program is now in Stage Three—with dozens of young male clones from age ten to eighteen kept and monitored at a private facility without any realization of who they really are. Some are treated like everyday kids. Others live prescribed lives to replicate the upbringing of their DNA donors. All wonder why they can’t remember their lives before age ten.

When security is breached and the most dangerous boys are set free by the now-insane scientist who created them, only one young man can help find the clones before their true genetic nature grows even more horrific than the original models: a fifteen-year-old boy, an every-boy…who has just learned that he is the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Project Cain is filled to the brim with information, background knowledge and a ton of other things. I didn’t want this review to be too extremely long, so instead of summarizing the book myself like I usually do, I just inserted the synopsis from the Barnes and Noble website!

The element that stuck out the most to me was the amazing cast of characters! Each one, from Jeff to his father, to Castillo, had substance and history. I found every single person that the reader was introduced to, to be very interesting!

Jeff is only one of probably thousands of clones created by the government. Each clone is created from the cells of the world’s most infamous serial killers. So not only did we learn about each of these teenage boys, but we also learned real information on serial killers – interesting!

Jeff has being living, what seems to be, a normal life. He is a teenage boy, who lives with his scientist dad, who enjoys learning, and talking about what he knows. That is until he finds out whom he really is. Before his life did a three-sixty, Jeff never once had evil thoughts like he does now, never once had he dreamed of dead people. Besides the extraordinary characters within Project Cain, the struggle Jeff has with himself is what pulled me in and forced me to read this book. He knew what he was, and who he was, but he was in constant battle with himself.

When reading Project Cain, it’s obvious that this isn’t any average Young Adult Thriller. I think that’s because the characters are based upon real life serial killers, and there is so much REAL information within the book’s pages, that makes it stick out from the rest.

Overall I really enjoyed Project Cain and learned a lot. I can see where some people who claim “information dumping” to occur are coming from, but I didn’t know much about serial killers, and liked learning about it. I had just watched a documentary on Netflix the night before I received this book in the mail, and was totally in the mood already.

There were two small things that did slow the story down a bit for me, and those were the constant driving and sitting in hotel rooms that Jeff and Castillo did during their search. I understand that there’s a process, but I felt that the reader didn’t need to go through the entire thing. The second thing is that Jeff feels that he is useless when helping Castillo with the search! Yet he knows his dad, and he is the one who can most likely understand the clues that he left behind.

Project Cain was suspenseful, mysterious and dark! I felt like I was in Jeff’s head the entire time, and I really enjoyed that!

Bel:

Cover

The cover art is edgy and gritty, but is not my cup of tea. If it’s not yours either, don’t be fooled, give the book a chance!

Characters

I enjoy spending time in the shades of grey in a battle against good and evil.

Favourite

Maggie. Best friends should be made of this. She’s no flake and stands tall even in the face of the scary crap.

Least Favourite

Easy mark this one… Malachi. There just aren’t words for the epicness of his nastiness.

Beginning

Gaby is followed by a strange guy after putting the contents of her dreams on a website.

Storyline

The strange things just keep coming for Gaby, but she still can not remember her past.

Ending

The possibilities for part two are endless.

Thoughts

After reading this fabulous, book I am seriously kicking myself for not remembering to bring my copy of Shadows to the Brisbane Writer’s Festival at the start of the month. I seriously stood right next to Paula and had nothing for her to sign. UGH! Pity I hadn’t read the book by then or I also would have picked up part two and had that signed too.

Well and truly worth picking up Shadows even if it’s just for curiosity’s sake. You’ll be impressed.

Quote

Rusty Shrugs. ‘Simon’s all right.’ He points the fencepost at him at him. ‘You wouldn’t go out with wankers, would you, mate?’

‘Not if I could help it.’

Not quite a resounding endorsement.

‘Present company excepted, of course.’ I say, gesturing to the brothers.

 Lisa:

Cover: If you’ve stuck around for a while, and have been keeping up with a few of my reviews, you know just how important covers are to me. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but does anyone actually do that?

The cover of a book is the first thing the consumer sees. It’s the books first impression on a possible buyer. The cover should pull people in, should giveaway a little bit about the story inside, and should be what makes a person pick up the book to see what it’s about.

The cover of Shadows tells the reader right away that it has something to do with angels. Also the cover is kind of mysterious looking. It makes me wonder what else is going on in this story, and I would mostly likely pick it up to see what the synopsis has to say.

The cover does its job! Love it!

Characters: When it comes to Shadows I can easily say that all of the elements are what made this book for me; not just the story, or the characters, or the ending, but everything. However, the characters were what made the story different from other YA angel books. I felt that the characters had so much density and felt so real that it pushed the book up to the next level.

Favorite: I liked a lot of the characters! Gaby for being so strong, not only is she dealing with the loss of her twin brother, but also with the whole “angel” thing. And Maggie for being such a good friend to Gaby, and absorbing all the crazy information that’s been thrown at her.

Least Favorite: I can’t really say I disliked any character.

Beginning: Gaby doesn’t know how to grieve for the loss of her twin brother after they were caught in a horrible car accident over a year ago. Gaby is now living in Pan Beach with her best friend Maggie, hoping to be able to deal with her loss, and move forward in her life.

Middle: Gaby and Maggie run into a mysterious guy named Rafa at a bar one night, who claims to be one of Jude’s (Gaby’s twin brother) best friend. He even proves himself, when he shows Gaby pictures of him and Jude together. Rafa informs Gaby that her brother didn’t die the way she thinks he did. And that Gaby isn’t who she thinks she is, instead she’s an angel. Within only a few chapters Gaby is thrown into the world of Rephaim!

Ending: MY LIPS ARE SEALED! *Throws away key*

Overall Thoughts:  Before picking this book up, I had no idea what it was about. I had never heard of it before, and decided to do a bit of research. After just one google search, I found tons of reviews, claiming amazing things and rating it with four or more stars (out of five). After finally reading Shadows, I can tell you first hand that everything, everyone is raving about in their reviews is correct!

I can say that I fell in love with this book. While many seem to be getting tired of angels, I’m just now discovering them. Shadows filled my angel craving! There are twists and turns in this story, that made me feel like I was on a roller coaster, and wasn’t getting off any time soon. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has in store!

Krista:

Cover

My favourite aspect of the US cover is the subtle shading of the wings. The art combined with the title represents the book well. And I love the red colour with the sunset background.

Characters

There are a handful of characters in this one. Gaby is the main focus of the storyline but we get different character’s point of view as the story unravels.

Favourite

My favorite character is Maggie, Gaby’s best friend. I really liked her personality. If I chose one of the main characters it would be Rafa, he’s got this protective side that I was attracted to.

Least Favourite

This was a hard question for this book. I couldn’t really pin point a character I didn’t think filled out the story well. Although there were a lot of details and characters to remember, I think they all meshed well.

Beginning

Gaby has been having dreams about fighting hell-beasts with a boy she refers to as  Matt. But when “Matt” shows up at the local bar, she’s determined to find answers. When he tells her that he was her dead brother’s best friend, Gaby has a hard time believing him because she cannot remember him. It turns out that the car accident that killed her brother and wiped her memory might have been something else all together.

Storyline

Gaby is still mourning the loss of her twin brother Jude, when Rafa appears. A real life embodiment of the man from her dreams. He tells her a story that blows her mind, and only upsets her more. As the proof starts rolling in that what Rafa has been telling her could possibly be true, it changes her life. It’s a story with constant movement and action scenes as the characters have to rescue and help each other.

Ending

Everything begins to come together nicely with a very powerful fight and revelations.

Thoughts

We get a lot of information for a first book in a series. It has a lot of Fallen Angel, Nephilim and Rephilim stories. Even though I did not connect with Gaby personally, her attitude makes sense with her story. She also has the physical fight to back up her mouth, so she’s a pretty bad arse character!

Quote

‘Why did you call me Matt?’
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I know you, I realize I should have called that character Dick.’
He laughs, and then the couch shakes. ‘Honestly, Gabe, I forgot you could be this much fun.”

Bel happily discovers the free e-books and audio books available from Brisbane Council Libraries.

I am a massive fan of audio books and I have a feeling Brisbane City Council Libraries need to promote something I am learning to use as I type this blog. Over Drive electronic books. Which show up as a DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO FILE, or DOWNLOADABLE ELECTRONIC FILE when you do an online catalog search.

So far all I’ve done is download the Open Drive program for windows 7, logged into the log in page, via the elib catalog, using my library card details and pin, and downloaded the book I wish to listen to.

According to the borrowing page I can choose what format I want the audio file to be in when I download. I have 7 days to listen to the book/s I chose, though I can also alter how long I want to borrow the book for. I have a capacity of 10 audio books to borrow at a time and, oh my gosh, the sound quality is equal to an audio book you’d buy from a book shop or borrow in disc form from the library.

They look like they have the option of putting the ‘app’ on mobile devices like nooks, androids and iproducts.

You can borrow e-books, so you’re not just restricted to audio books, and the variety of e-books is actually a little more substantial than the audio formats.

So far I’ve started a list of books I’d like to borrow, and I’m still searching through the catalog to see what else I might like to experience.

Go ahead and give Over Drive a chance if you’re a member of Brisbane City Council Libraries. Ask your caregiver before downloading the program, you know the drill. E-books and audio books for free… yes please!

Let me know if you’ve given this program a go and what you thought of it.