Love Hard - Nalini Singh

Love Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to admit that when I started the first chapter of Love Hard, I wasn't sure if it was going to be for me. I really shouldn't have worried. The next thing I knew, the time had just flown past and I was engrossed. This was a gripping read, made extra enjoyable for me as it was set here in New Zealand, which is sadly something that I don't come across that often.
This book had some of my favourite elements: A strong female lead, a very sweet male lead, enemies to lovers and baggage that is dealt with realistically, not just brushed over. It also features rugby, which isn't essential in a romance, but being one of my favourite sports certainly wasn't something that I didn't enjoy.
The romance between Jake and Jules was lovely. They are clearly into each other long before it's obvious to either of them. I like the way that they complimented one another and were written so that it was clear that they would make a good team in the future as their romance progressed. I also really liked daughter, Esme. Having two girls of my own of similar ages I can certainly relate to the Elsa obsession and in the case of my youngest, love of rugby.
This is the third in the Hard Play series and while the characters from the previous books are mentioned and appear, it didn't matter that I hadn't read those books. If anything, it just made me want to go back and check them out, which I certainly shall at some point in the near future. This was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the younger brother's book in the future.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.


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Wild Pork and Watercress - Barry Crump

It's probably about fifteen years since I last read a book by Barry Crump. I don't claim to have a great knowledge of his work, but do remember enjoying a good keen man. I may have read more, I'm not sure. I was fairly certain that I had not read Wild Port and Watercress previously. When the film Hunt for the Wilderpeople came out earlier this year, I watched, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wild Pork and Watercress, the book on which it's based was sitting on our bookshelf. I decided that it might be worth a look.

Although the story is slightly different to the film, the basic idea is the same. An overweight and seemingly unloved young Maori boy goes to live with his aunt and uncle in the countryside. After his aunt's sudden death, Ricky is faced with going into care. Rather than allow that to happen, he runs away to the bush. His Uncle Hec has also gone into the bush and the two of them find themselves on the run from authorities.

Living off the land and their own hunting skills, they manage to avoid the police and rangers who are on the look out for them. They move around to avoid detection, supplementing what they can catch, with supplies from various huts.

In many ways, this is the innocent tale of two loners who find themselves thrown together against the rest of the world. A World that thinks that there must be something quite unsavoury and unnatural about the relationship between an older man and a young boy. Really, this is a story of friendship.

Told from Ricky's point of view, you can't help but hope that Ricky and Hec manage to make it and survive out there. Keeping out of the way of the authorities that want to split them up and bring them home. It's an easy read and Crump manages to capture Ricky's voice so well that it's easy to accept the idea that the narrator is a teenage boy. Great read and unusually one that could be read before or after seeing the film, without one spoiling the enjoyment of the other.

An alarming discovery

We've always been really careful to make sure that we have working smoke alarms. The children all know what to do if there was a fire. We've talked about how to get out safely, where to meet, who to call. They've learnt the same at school. Our kids are firewise; they know to get down, get low, get out.

Except, they don't. If you'd have asked me a week or so ago, then I would have said that it wasn't a problem. I was wrong. Fortunately, we didn't find out the hard way, but we had a bit of a wake up call all the same.

Just the other day, the kids were all in their rooms. The youngest having a nap, the others chilling out, reading books and relaxing. I was in the kitchen cooking lunch and I set the smoke alarms off. Now this isn't a regular occurrence in our house, but it has happened before. Even so, not one of the children came out to see if there was a problem. Not one of them left the house, just in case. They assumed it was a false alarm and did nothing.

The problem is of course, that it's human nature to assume that all is well. That the worst won't actually happen and that everything will be ok. If there was a real emergency, then of course we would get the kids out, shout them to leave their rooms, make sure that they were safe. But that's not really the point. An emergency is just that, anything could happen meaning that we weren't able to do that. We teach the kids what to do in an emergency so that they will actually do it.

You can teach your children what to do, but until it actually happens, there's no way of knowing if they really will do it. We talked to them, explained that if they hear the alarm they must always act as though it's a real emergency, just in case it is. Even so, I'm less confident than I was. Some day soon I'll be testing them though, setting off the alarm and seeing what happens, making sure that this time they really do get out. 

How would your children react? Would they really act as though it were real? Or just assume that it was a false alarm? It's worth finding out, so that you don't have to learn the hard way.

Five Minutes Alone - Paul Cleave

I'm starting to really like Paul Cleave's novels, this is the third that of the Christchurch novels that I've read. Although there is a common story thread that runs through them, particularly ones such as Five Minutes Alone, that feature Theodore Tate, they also work well in their own right.

The books are all set in Christchurch, although in many ways this is a fantasy Christchurch or one in a parallel universe with a darker and more sinister feel than the 'real' Christchurch. The New Zealand in the book is also a fantasy version of New Zealand; a referendum having reintroduced the death penalty.

Into this dark world, we are reintroduced to two characters who have featured in a number of the previous books, Carl Schroder and Theodore Tate. 

What I particularly love about Cleaves books is the ambiguity, in so many stories, both those that are crime novels, and those that have other main themes, we have a hero and an adversary. Good and bad fight it out. Of course life is not so clear cut and certainly Cleave's novels and characters are not so black and white. This is especially obvious in Five Minutes Alone, the question of who is good and who is bad is not clear cut one. Rather than a fight between good and evil it's a fight between the really evil and the not quite so bad.

The story focuses a lot on revenge, unlike many in the crime novel genre there isn't a question of who-done-it, more a focus on why, and if that reasoning is at all justified. I found myself rooting for different characters at different times and questioning things all the way through.

The story is cleaver and well written, without trying to be too cleaver. I enjoyed it and really must track down some more of Cleave's books.

A Southern Star - Anya Forrest

Often when I finish a book I sigh, it's usually because I didn't want it to end, or because the ending was so good. This time, sadly, it was because it just didn't quite get there.

I really really wanted to like this book. A kiwi author, in the South Island, and even visiting Dunedin at one point. It should have been all there. But somehow it just fell a bit short.

It didn't really help that I didn't like either of the main characters to begin with. We meet them both in the opening chapter on a ferry crossing to Stewart Island. She's as wet as a soggy stack of newspaper that's been left out in the rain. He's domineering, overbearing and arrogant. 

I know that the charge taking, alpha male, is a stock 'hero' of many romance books. But he needs to have a balance to his character. He does develop this later in the book, but in the open stages, he demands to know things about her, cancels her food order and seems to get angry over nothing. She worries that she's upset him by not sharing things. But honestly, if this were real life, I'd get out of there now love, controlling, abusive relationship alert.

He does get better, in parts, but the rush into his needing to know everything, before they've in any way got to know one another seems forced. I did keep reading, and I did want to know how it was going to turn out. (Yes I know, it's a romance, you know where it's going really, but still). 

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but I struggled with much of their relationship, and felt that the not talking about some of the issues was a bit forced. There were a few other things that just didn't do it for me. Once or twice we were told that one of them made a comment or said something that the other one reacted to, but not what it was. Very very odd, it certainly didn't help the flow of the story. Other aspects of the story line and people's assumptions were introduced in a way that didn't feel natural and didn't really flow.

I was also irritated by a section of the story that dealt with child birth. Despite being in New Zealand, the whole thing was handled by a doctor, which, unless there are serious issues, is pretty much unheard of over here. It seemed to be based entirely on tv shows, and ones set somewhere else at that.

I really did want to enjoy this, but didn't. It was almost there, but not quite. With a bit of polishing it could probably be much better. The author, Anya Forrest has another book out and another on the way. I may give them a go, just to see if with a bit of experience they pick up, as I really would like to 'like' this Kiwi author.

The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton

I got this for Christmas, over the past few years I've ended up reading many of the booker prize winners and am yet to find one I haven't enjoyed. Being set in New Zealand, this seemed to be even more of a draw than usual. 

It's taken until now to get around to reading it. Not because I didn't want to start it, but more because I had a couple of false starts. The chapters in the beginning of this book are very long, the first two times I tried to start it, I was tired and couldn't make it to a good place to stop before needing to get to sleep. I need to find a good stopping point when I'm reading, particularly in those first few pages.

I had a few nights where I was heading to bed early to read, so it seemed a good time to give the Luminaries a proper go. So I dived in. Although it is mostly set in Hokitika on the West Coast, I will admit that I was quite excited to find quite a few references to Port Chalmers. (I know, sad to admit that I'd find that exciting, but there you go.)

The story is mostly set in the West Coast gold rush of the 1800's and much of the action revolves around a number of characters who have gone to Hokitika to find their fortune. There is a lot going on in this book. Keeping track of the interweaving story lines isn't easy, and I wasn't sure at all where it was going for much of the time. 

I don't want to go dropping spoilers into this, in fact, were I to try to, we'd probably be here all week, there was so much going on in this book. It perhaps meant that there was no real lead or leads, with so many people taking the main role at one time or another in the book. Would it have been better if there had? Possibly, I would have liked to know more about one or two of those who started out in a strong leading role and then faded into the background later.

I did enjoy it, really enjoy it, but it was far from a favourite. There were still questions left to be answered by the end of the book. Or perhaps I lost them in the circular narrative. I'm not sure. It was a very good book technically, well told but just missing that final spark to make it truly fantastic.