In a week full of bad news, anything positive, seems a real rarity.
And when Mrs H accidentally dropped a spanner across the battery terminals of our Vauxhall 30/98 E type tourer, things were far too positive. There was a shower of sparks and the spanner jumped a few feet into the air. Fortunately, no body, be it spanner, feline or human were any the worse. The battery is likely toast now, so Mrs H has bought a new one to be on the safe side.
As the weather and Mrs H's tooth hole have shown some improvement, Mrs H, feeling a lot jollier, has tried to start on book 4 of our adventure series. But as I dictate the post for today, the dark clouds once more march across the sky, and it looks like more rain will spoil what is left of the weekend. I suspect it will be (another) Sunday spent laying on the bed grooming, napping and thinking of warmer, happier, peaceful days.
On the subject of work, here is my selfie. It was taken on Friday, and shows me at MY desk. I told Mrs H that great things happen at this desk and on this chair, and my naps are power thinking naps, rather than an opportunity to shed some hair on the chair's stiff fabric. To which Mrs H rolled her eyes and went to get the vacuum and lint roller . . . .
Whatever fluff your day finds you in, be it good, bad, or self inflicted, we hope you find some joy and warmth in knowing there is a lot of good out there. And if all that joy gets united, it can change the badness into goodness. And not just in stories.
Hello, and welcome to my latest Book Review, featuring this week a Adventure in YA Fantasy Romantic Fiction.
Without further ado, and with my trusty housekeeper, Mrs H, ready with the tissues, lets get on with the show!
AUTHOR: Kel Menton
Illustrations by: Chrissy Curtin
Published by: Little Island
Publication date Paperback:
Paperback 13 digit ISBN: 978 191 507 1743
UK Cover price for Paperback: £8.99
US Cover price for paperback: $12.99
Amazon KINDLE price: N/A
Pages: 271
Age range: YA
WARNINGS: Yes. This book contains references to self-harm, suicide, and references to symptoms of borderline personality disorder. There is also homophobic and transphobic speech, and reference to past sexual abuse.
The book contains a list of helplines for those needing help/advice on or if affected by any of the book's content.
The book seeks to raise awareness of the issues covered, and as such is written appropriately for the target YA and older audience.
SPOILER ALERT
Yes. Some as to plot direction and characters.
Thank you to...
We are exceedingly grateful to Graeme Williams and Little Island Publishers for offering us the chance to Read & Review this excellent story.
As ever,our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, received as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review.
First and foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their family, friends and students will enjoy.
The plot
Our book opens with a prologue, and us discovering a boy has taken himself off to a large and forgotten wood with the intent of taking his own life. Having done the deed, he lets the blood flow and asks that they let him rest there in peace.
Hanan is our protagonist, and we catch up with him as he is poised to enter a local cafe in a seaside town not far from Cork, Ireland, called Skenashogue. He is the boy in the wood.
How he came to survive the incident, he does not know, but the experience has left him with something he cannot quite fathom or control. When Hanan is sad, things around him darken. The greater the depth of the despair, the worse things happen. Angry wasps physically attack the windows of his mother's cottage where he lives. Flowers wilt and die. Even the shadows draw in, wishing to attack and overwhelm him and the area he is in. But, when he is happy, flowers bloom brighter, the sun shines more, and clouds just disappear. Others haven't caught onto the connection between Hanan and the happenings.
After he is scalded and cut during an accident in the cafe, he falls for a boy who caused the event and takes him home when he collapses. As the boy's hands touch Hanan, he feels the darkness of the world he lives in and is tormentedby, lift. His heart brightenedandhe felt once more alive. It is such an intense sensation, one he does not wish to lose and craves more of.
Pax is that boy, and he has his own tale to tell. He has undergone surgery to become the outward boy he always knew he should have been. His father, however, sees him as a monster and freakish daughter, and Pax has suffered viciously at the hands of his drunken and bigoted parent. So much so that he now lives in the village with his aunt May, who reads tarot cards and such.
Their adventure begins when the two boys stumble into each other late one evening at Hanan's favourite spot to be alone, a secret cove. The two boys start to see more of each other. But twists and turns and derailments hinder their progress. Doubts on each boy's part as to what the other wants, if they like them, or as in Hanan's case, whether he will only bring trouble and hurt on Pax (and drive him away) and himself, define the story.
With each boy having a past, demons if you will, something that hurts or haunts them, it was never going to be easy. Given the potential Hanan has to cause damage and pain, he thinks he is acting for the best when he runs away from an impromptu kiss with Pax.
Pax, though, is left confused and frustrated. Is this just another person who has raised his hopes only to break his already fragile heart? Both can be seen by the reader to be in love, yet caught up inveryreal emotional, physical and cognitive dilemmas that keep them apart, willingly or not. When demons, both physical and fay start to come home to roost, this tale shows its strength and shines.
Which is where I really must stop this review for fear of giving away the drama.
So, what did we think?
I was utterly captivated by this tale. Never have the characters felt more personal, their plight and situation so real,so very human and of this age.
Beautifully crafted, it is at times brutal, brutally frank, and savage. And at other times it is heartbreaking, magical, then bouncing to joyous.The writer has crafted something so deeply personal, so emotional, andyet it is not about them.
It is as delicately spun as gossamer threads and yet also so very strong, cohesive and as intricately woven. What drives this tale is the essence of love and friendship, of making errors on the road. Overcoming adversity in the face of so much pressure and undeniable evil that lurks in some minds and expressed by those that are all too prevalent in the news, creates the darker side of this story.
The fantasy element comes from as much of who our two lead characters are deep within, their essence, as the fay and magic that they encounter. It was not overplayed and slipped easily into the story once revealed and plays delicately through to the end.
It was a delight to see Hanan and Pax come into their own, separately and then finally, together. The journey they each have is unique and spellbinding. Because of the way the story unfolds, which is delightful, the truth of each player's life and background is released and realised slowly. The pace is never slow but gathers speed towards a dramatic conclusion that really has the reader turning the page.
I happily state that, like all great books, and this isan amazingstory, the end of this book is clearly not the end of the adventure. But life, love and the highs and lows along the way are just like that, too.
I have necessarily skipped lots of the twists and turns, the nuances of which there are many. Hopefully, we have whetted your appetite nonetheless and will give this a read.
Crunch time.
A joyous, delicious, emotional ride that had us on tenterhooks. It will tear you apart, patch you together only to be torn apart in another way. And, I wouldn't have had this story any other way, and so glad that I was offered it to review.
Make no mistake, this is far more than the 'trans romance' as described by the publishers. It is different, in a very good way, and fuller-bodied and something very special.
A highlyrecommended YA read.
KEL MENTON Can be found on Instagram & Twitter
LITTLE ISLAND BOOKS web pagecan be found HEREor type this:https://www.littleisland.ie/
CHRISSY CURTIN'S web page web page can be found HEREor type this:https://www.chrissycurtin.com/
I hope you enjoyed that adventure Review.
OK, for those that have come for little young me, and as it's Sunday, let's get on with a selfie!
Here I can be seen completing clue 9 Down. 3,3 letters. Any ideas what the answer was?
This week (as per preceding weeks) we have been busy looking after a stray cat and writing book 3 of our Chumley and Hudson Investigate series. Both have required a lot of TLC but in different ways.
The cat, whom we in the locality have now called Thomas, spends a lot of his sleeping time on our combined doorsteps. He came to our attention some months back, doing what stray cats do: lurking in the background and getting on with life. But when our neighbour became concerned about some blood on his face, which turned out to be a massive burst abscess so big we could see into his teeth and jaw, we had to act quickly.
With swift work, Thomas was lured inside one evening by our neighbour for a bite to eat, and he was then crated up and driven to the vet for emergency attention. Antibiotics and painkillers were administered and the wound trimmed to facilitate healing. Thomas returned to the hood and has seemingly recovered quite well over the last three weeks. The hole has closed enough that we can't see his teeth, but there is a scab/wound area that needs to heal, too. Thankfully, the cold and generally not-so-good weather has kept the flies away and Thomas resting up and eating to pass the hours of the wintery days.
A huge shout out to both George and Sammy for all they have done for Thomas the Cat. Such selfless kindness and prompt action deserves recognition and much good karma.
As to the book, Mrs H and I have been posting chapter progrss updates on Bluesky. We are heading into the final two/three chapters. But as this is the first draft, albeit a pretty complete draft, we know we have additional work to do. For instance, to keep the word count up and to add some extra peril and flavour to the scene, we need to add an additional chapter early on. This, of course, means we need to re-jig the wording of other chapters, before and after, to accommodate the changes. But such is to be expected. Writing Middle-Grade books has its challenges, but once you're in the flow it can be highly rewarding.
If you've ever thought about giving writing a go, do try. Mrs H says that if folks can put together a good blog, and enjoy creative reading, then they can write. Confidence, speed and capability come from doing and not doubting.
And as Mrs H suffers from, amongst other things, a form of dyslexia, thankfully we have an excellent editor and an excellent typesetting publisher to assist. Plus, awesome Beta Readers to point out technical errors and silly mistakes.
There are also some great writing software packages out there. Some are free and others, for a small sum, can do a lot of the editing and set-up work on your book for you. To the point they will even create the file to download straight onto Amazon to print a self publishable book. Such as 'Pro Writing Aid', 'Atticus', or 'Vellum'. Click on the blue text to link to the appropriate websites.
OK, enough of our writing and stray cat updates, let's get on with a selfie!
This week Mrs H and I have been preparing for . . . . doing nothing!
That's right, here at the Manor House, we do not do Christmas or Easter and the like but prefer to try and help others as a day-to-day matter-of-fact kind of activity. So all the rush this week has been getting copies of our book out to the local rescue centre for animals in need, so they can sell it and raise funds.
What was hugely satisfying was being able to give them 30 copies to sell and get the full cover value. Hopefully, they all get sold and our donation helps many more cats and dogs in need. Truly this is the best sort of what one would describe as selfish generosity: a warm cosy feeling and good karma in the next life, and the knowledge others benefit in this.
We know many folks do something similar, and not just around Christmas though it is a time when so many sentient beings are left on their own, or out in the cold and hungry.
Also this week we have been liaising with our blogging pals, Kerry & David Barbero and Angel Valentine, to ensure our co-authored book is out there in the world to raise funds for both Kerry & David's rescue charity and our own.
Ann Adamus was so very kind and prepared a wonderful graphic to share and put in our sidebar. Many of you who follow the Cat Blogosphere will have seen this come out a few days ago, and maybe received an email from Ann, too.
There are a few folks listed, so well worth a look, and if something catches your eye, a purchase to support fellow felines and bloggers.
And heres a link to our own book: Chumley and Hudson Investigate. The king Herod's Affair. AMAZON LINK
Kerry, David, Angel Valentine, Mrs Hudson and I thank everyone who has already bought copies of either of these books. The funds raised are much appreciated.
And if you like the books, please, please do leave a review on Amazon, who are the publishers as well as the sellers. Good reviews will help increase sales and our money for charity.
And now, after that Selfish publicity for great causes, here is a Shameless sleepy Sunday selfie of me.
I was afloat on a grey sea of velour, with the incoming ripples of tufts of white fleecy spume soon to lap at my paws....
Mrs H always says I have far too vivid an imagination and should lay off the late night catnip, MOL
Today, we have a special announcement. This week, after a small series of technical hitches, Mrs H and I jointly pressed the key that sent our new and first book into publication, with the aid of a lodger who recently took our attic room at a most reasonable rent and ad-lib unspecified services rendered in the house, garden and around the grounds.
Yup, it has been a long, long journey, starting way back in 2018. It has been tinged with sadness, and also delight.
But let’s not dig into who got flour and butter on my new notepad. Or how old Ned, the gardener, not only got grass seed in the Manor's PC but managed to spill tea on it and got said seed to sprout. Then later, after trying to mow it, destroyed the keyboard.
Fear not, all things are possible when writing adventures, and all solutions available to the detective with a nose and whiskers for finding solutions to the most unusual of incidents that befall us in Upper Much-Mousing.
Here is a picture of the cover, so ably created by an outstanding artist in South Africa called Craig D Howarth. Craig spent many long hours, days and weeks toiling away, risking life and limb and several literature-starved lions, to create all the art, inside and out. Not once, but twice, as the book changed in editing.
Mrs H and I are thrilled with how the artwork turned out. With the help of an independent publisher, Jane’s Studio Press, based in Scotland, to help set out the edited work, we have achieved an awesome result.
Here is the lowdown on the adventure, as taken from our book:-
“Welcome to 1920s Britain, where cats and dogs have a voice and are treated as equals to humans. In the quaint village of Upper Much-Mousing, one lucky young cat named Erin Chumley inherits an old manor house and Estate. But with it comes responsibility and bills, and Erin must navigate her new life with the help of her housekeeper and tutor, Mrs. Hudson, a retired Army veteran with a mysterious past.
Together, Erin and Mrs. Hudson start a detective agency to earn funds and teach Erin about the world. But their first case takes them to the bustling city of London, to the famous King Herod’s Department store. Three kittens have gone missing, and it’s up to our dynamic duo to solve the case. But what starts as a simple investigation quickly turns into a dangerous race against time, as they must save the kittens from the clutches of the evil and lazy Anders, the store’s nighttime security guard. As they dig deeper, they uncover a sinister black-market gang stealing from the store, and must also help their feline seamstress friend, Jenifer Darcy, get the recognition she deserves for her work.
Join Erin and Mrs. Hudson on their witty and whimsical adventure, filled with action, fun, and heartwarming moments. Perfect for young middle-grade readers looking for a fun and exciting read.”
*****GIVEAWAY*****
As a special launch time (not lunchtime) gift, we are making a copy of the paperback available to two lucky Sunday Selfie bloggers who comment on this post between now and midnight next Saturday, 12th October BST. The winners must be willing and able to supply a postal address to allow an Amazon delivery. Mrs H or I will contact the winners by leaving a comment on the winners’ blogs.
OK, so enough of the surprise news, here' is a special, book launch selfie of me spreading the news!
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