Flea Market Preview - April 2016

 It's quite an appropriate clipart that I found in the web as it has been raining on and off for the past few months (basically since early February).  I even had to cancel my flea market participation in February as the heavy downpour caused massive flood in some areas in the city.

Come this weekend, come rain or shine, I shall be at GHM participating in the first of the flea market for the month of April.  I will be bringing all the books that I wanted to bring during February and some additional titles as well.

This include :

Hazy Summer Nights by Nora Roberts, review of which is coming right up.

The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

Do come and say hi between 10 am to 6 pm both Saturday and Sunday and see if you want to bring home a book or two.

Reflections 2015

Is it too late to do a reflection of 2015 in March?  It's a post that should have been done at the end of 2015 and preferably on the last day of the year but I wasn't in the mood then.

So, is it better late than never?  Anyway, to get on with it, 2015 was quite steady for this blog and I could have matched the number of posts in 2015 to year 2014 with 70 post but I didn't have that motivation at the end so, PurpleQueenFairy ended the year with 68 posts.

I started the year with a Reading Challenge but I didn't see it through.  To be fair, I did complete quite a bit of the challenge but I didn't particularly follow it through.  Anyway, I am done with challenges!  I think if I can read half of what I bought, it would be an achievement already.

Perhaps I should do a TBR post instead  to show you the number of books I have in my collection that I have yet to read.  Sometimes I even forgot that I have that particular titles in my collection and I can't seems to stop adding to it!

I discover Adam Nevill in year 2015 so I am keen to explore more of his titles.

Currently I just started with Bags of Bones by Stephen King, another horror master, which I get from a book exchange with another reader.  I just started so I can't tell you if it's any good but it should be.. :)



I will continue with my participation in flea market but very much less this year due to other commitments and would want to attempt to sell my collection via FB and other online groups instead.  I would miss that interaction with other readers but hopefully I can do more of that later part of the year.



That should be all for a March reflection and looking forward to a great year ahead!

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Synopsis :


"They all crossed into forbidden territory. They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved and how. And how much."

The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family. Their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu, (who loves by night the man her children love by day), fled an abusive marriage to live with their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), and their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt). 

When Chacko's English ex-wife brings their daughter for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day, that lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river.

It took me rather a long time time complete this book.  I also read part of it twice because I couldn't really understand the story when I first read it. It was only halfway through that I managed to understand where the story is going and after completing the book, I went back to the beginning and it was then that I quite understand why The God of Small Things won a Booker Prize.

The author tends to be rather descriptive in composing the story and I also felt that the story flow wasn't following any sequence and rather confusing to me.  Perhaps I wasn't a very good reader cos initialy, I wanted to give up after a couple of chapter.  If you are like me, then I do advise you not to give up.

It's actually a very bitter sweet story of love and lost, courage and fear, sadness and joy.  When there is much love, there's much lost as well and generally the small things in life do matters and it can be a very small thing that changes everything like what the twins experienced.

If you come across The God of Small Things, do give it a try.

The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Synopsis :

Lauren Stillwell is not your average damsel in distress. When she discovers her husband leaving a hotel with another woman, she decides to beat him at his own game. But her revenge goes dangerously awry, and she finds her world spiraling into a hell that becomes more terrifying by the hour.

In a further twist of fate, Lauren must take on a job that threatens everything she stands for. Now, she's paralyzed by a deadly secret that could tear her life apart. With her job and marriage on the line, Lauren's desire for retribution becomes a lethal inferno as she fights to save her livelihood--and her life.

Patterson takes us on a twisting roller-coaster ride of thrills in his most gripping novel yet. This story of love, lust and dangerous secrets will have readers' hearts pounding to the very last page.

I am back again with another James Patterson title.  I promise you that this would be the last one as I bought all these three titles end of last year and have read them all.

The Quickie lives up to its name.  The pace of the story is fast and quick and again with short chapters, it's very easy to approach this title. There's also a lot of twist and turn.from who Lauren really is and even right up to the ending, you can say readers are being kept at the edge of their seat where twists and turn are concerned.

I can safely say that this would be my favourite among the three titles.

Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

Synopsis :

How does it feel to be desired by every man and envied by every woman? Wonderful. This is the life Nora Sinclair has dreamed about, the life she's worked hard for, the life she will never give up.

She doesn't just attract men, she enthralls them. So why is FBI agent John O'Hara interested in Nora Sinclair? Mysterious things happen to people around her, especially the men. And there is something dangerous about Nora, something that lures O'Hara at the same time that it fills him with fear.

Is something dark hidden in the gaps of her past? As O'Hara spends more and more time getting to know her, is he pursuing justice? Or his own fatal obsession?

I am on a roll here with titles by James Patterson and this time round, it's Honeymoon which he co-wrote with Howard Roughan.  You know my opinion in the area but never mind, as long as I get to read nice thriller, I am not complaining.

I thoroughly enjoyed Honeymoon.  It is a typical current James Patterson thriller written in short chapters that just entice you to turn the pages.  Why I say current is because it is very different from his books of yesteryears like Along Came a Spider but I guess the author James Patterson now is a brand James Patterson.

While Honeymoon is a wonderful book of which I highly recommend but it is also not a memorable book.  As at now, I quite forgot the storyline but since I have exchange this thriller with another fabulous book by another mega author I would not have the opportunity to re-read it unless I come across another copy for same in years to come. 

Anyway, fan or no fan, if you are looking for a thriller, you can go with Honeymoon.

Winter Wonderland by Belinda Jones

 Synopsis:

Imagine waking up in a snow globe...

That’s how travel journalist Krista feels when she arrives in magical Quebec to report on Canada's glittering Winter Carnival.

Over ten sub-zero days Krista's formerly frozen heart begins to melt as she discovers an enchanting world of ice palaces, husky dog-sledding and maple-syrup treats galore. And then she meets Jacques, a man as handsome and rugged as he is mysterious…

The two share a secret that could bond them forever, but can they find a way to break through the protective layers around their hearts to warm up this winter wonderland?

…let the snow-spangled adventure begin

Winter Wonderland is a chic lite holiday read through and through.  The main reason for that would be the story is about a girl who's on holiday and fell in love within that duration!

All these took place within one or two weeks in the holiday resort in Quebec and during the winter holidays so I guess that sets the stage for the story to develop in a holiday-ish whimsical way.

This is how I would sum up the story....Krista travels to Quebec to try out the ice hotel and other snowing attraction in the resort and finds herself falling for hottie and mysterious Jacques who managed to warm up her heart and melt her senses at the same time.

I guess this would be quite fun to read while you are also on holiday but if you are not, you might like to stay clear away from it until you do cos after reading it, you might be quite tempted to book a holiday to a nearby Winter Wonderland of your own.

Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Synopsis :

Paris is stunning in the summerNYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer.

The killing is simply marvelous

Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

Wish you were here

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

This is what I consider a new title by James Patterson which he co wrote with another author and this time round it's someone by name of Liza Marklund.  I am sorry if I am not familiar with this name but then I am never familiar with co-authors of James Patterson, of which he has many.  Perhaps this is the new way famous authors now lend their names as a brand to ensure that the public will consider the book?

Anyway, no matter what, it quite worked as the name James Patterson does sell and readers would expect a thriller and a thriller is what I got in Postcard Killers.

Written in that fast, short chapters that perhaps is a template of any James Patterson thriller, I was rather caught up with this title and read it quite quickly too.  Since it's a trade paperback version, it wasn't very convenient to bring out so I read it mostly during the year end holidays at home.

It was worth the time spent.