House of Silk Review

Hai! So today I'm going to be reviewing a bit of a different book… It's a Sherlock Holmes story, but not by
Conan Doyle. It is called The House of Silk, and it's by the author of Alex Rider, Anthony Horowitz.

As a major fan of the Conan Doyle canon, and most adaptations of my favourite Consulting Detective, I was super-excited to start this book, and I was certainly not disappointed.

This story is set in 1890, and it is written as Watson's last story in the Sherlock Holmes adventures. It follows two very different crimes, which seem completely different, stretching over two countries and lots of different characters. These cases can't be connected, although there continues to be parallels between the two… As the world's most celebrated detective duo fall deeper into the case of 'The House of Silk' they realise that this is no simple ordeal, and things quickly turn dark and sinister…

I most definitely recommend it to other Holmes fans or maybe even new Holmes fans with a basic knowledge…

So go and read it then come back and we can discuss!

***SPOILERS***

Okay! Let's get started!

Firstly, the differences between this novel and the original canon. I know little things would bug the heck out of most traditional Holmes fans, however, when it comes to retellings like this, small differences don't irritate me. To me, I feel like these little differences are what the new author does to put their own spin on the story, to make it their own. It's a lot like fanfiction- if every Harry Potter fic was written in the exact image of JK's prose, I think I might go mad. So in my opinion, the little differences are totally acceptable, if not encouraged. I'd love to know other opinions on this, however, so leave a comment if you agree or don't!

One of the main differences for me was the way Watson wrote. In this retelling, Watson's prose was very much more descriptive, detailed and arguably more beautiful than Conan Doyle's Watson. In a crime fiction, particularly in Sherlock stories, there is a lot of dialogue, and I feel like this novel balanced the masses of dialogue out nicely with very pretty prose and description, where the originals did not.

I also feel like in this novel, a lot more of the emotional side of the case was shown. In the originals, Watson is very much all about the crime and the actual facts of the case, whereas in this, I felt that we were much more inside Watson's head, and less so Sherlock's incredible mind. Although I loved seeing more of the relationship between Sherlock and John develop, I did feel like we missed out on a lot of Sherlock's thought process and how he thinks things through. In the originals, you are constantly in awe of Sherlock and his intellectual ability, as Conan Coyle intended. Although I loved this book very much, I did feel like this was excluded just a bit.

One of the main complaints I have noticed in multiple other reviews I've read was the slight modernisation of Horowitz's prose. My thoughts on this claim can be summed up quite accurate by- "eh." Yes, there was definitely some modernisation of the prose, however, as I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a Conan Doyle novel, and nor should it be, therefore why should it be an exact replica of the way he writes? The fact little things (such as the classic "the game is afoot" being changed to "the game's afoot") have been changed does not bother me one bit, and just shows that this is NOT an ACD novel.

Despite everything that I have said here, I still think this book is a great novel, and I still love the original Conan Doyle stories. There is no Sherlock story that could ever be better than the originals. Okay glad that's cleared up.

So this mystery was extremely intricate, and was not exactly foreseeable from the start, as with any good Holmes novel. There were some things that were easily guessed, such as the body of Keegan O'Donohague not being Keegan O'Donohague, and the involvement of Mr and Mrs Carstairs in criminal activity.

But majority of the plot twists were exactly as a plot twist should be. I did not expect Sherlock to end up in prison, and during the time he was, I was just as sad and downcast as John was. It is clear that without Sherlock Holmes, the books simply are not as fun. However, this was used to advantage the story, because the happiness I was filled with when the doctor's assistant was in fact Sherlock was almost immeasurable. That I also did not see coming.

Staying on the scene of Sherlock's escape, this was where I was pulled briefly out of this beautiful fictional world, because I couldn't help but feel some areas of this mystery were manufactured around the ultimate result, and that things almost feel too neatly into place. It's one of my few complaints about this novel, but I managed to get over it and immerse myself back into the story. This is where I feel that ACD always does a fabulous job- his mysteries and stories never felt forced or fake, and he always made them obscure but not so obscure they were unbelievable. This was part of his genius that I will forever be in awe of.

The whole resolution was rather unexpected. I never would've guessed that Mrs Carstairs was Keegan O'Donohague, not even with the subtle hints. And The House of Silk was also something I could never have guessed; a thought so horrific would never have even crossed my mind. I was more thinking it would be an underground criminal network, or a cult, and I must say, would have preferred if it was.

Moving away from the actual story and into characters, I loved the interactions between Holmes and Watson. Because of the slightly more modern approach to the story, their relationship reminded me very much of Sherlock BBC, the TV series which is undoubtedly my favourite Sherlock adaptation of all. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is extremely popular and stars Benedict Cumberbatch. If you don't know who he is, google him. You're welcome.

Anyways, the way they interacted and spoke to each other was just so adorable, you could really see just how close they were, and whether ACD intended it to be that way in the canon, I don't really know, because this high level of clear friendship was never present in his stories. (even more respect for John/Sherlock brotp)

I loved the way Watson blindly believed Sherlock when piles of evidence stacked up against him, and I think one of the saddest things in this book for me was when Watson would flick back to the present, and talk about Sherlock being dead. He would write things about Sherlock's obituaries, and suddenly I'd see Sherlock dead and John left alone. And the last line almost brought tears to my eyes, in fact, the whole afterword was extremely sad. "It is Sherlock Holmes who is playing. It must be. I hope with all my heart that he is playing for me…".

These parts brought back painful memories of the Reichenbach episode of Sherlock BBC. (Go watch it. The whole show. NOW.)

One of my favourite things in this book was Moriarty's brief scene. When John was sitting at that dinner table, and when the man started talking about being a criminal and sending Sherlock a message, or a hint, I was sure it was Moriarty. I was sure that I had just witnessed an appearance of my favourite Consulting Criminal. I was so glad in the end when John cleared it up and confirmed that it probably was Moriarty, because it was a loose end I was waiting to see tied.

However I was sad that John never mentioned it to Sherlock, I would've loved to see his reaction, or what he thought of it.

All in all, this was a fantastic novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was a tribute to Conan Doyle that will probably sit on my list of favourites, but I would love to know your opinion also. What did you think about The House of Silk? Leave a comment and your twitter name and I'll shout you out and or follow you. :)

Have a lovely day,
lily xoxo

Legend- Recommendation

Hola! It's that time again- time to tell you about a book I really enjoyed so that you can enjoy it too!

So this time, I have a dystopian that I read only recently, called Legend by Marie Lu. Not only did my favourite booktuber, polandbananas20, recommend this through her review, many of my other bookish friends, both online and not, also suggested I read it. So naturally, I bought it. Except, I bought it sometime last year, and it got lost in the pile of books I had to read and I only got one hundred pages in. I really loved it, but I just kept picking up other books and it sort of got pushed to the side.

However, with some extra time on my hands, I picked the book up again and made it all the way through. This is a story about a wanted criminal, called Day, and a high ranking prodigy of the military, June. What was once the United States of America is now divided into the Colonies and the Republic. But when Day's family are threatened and everything goes wrong in an attempt to help them, June and Day are suddenly thrown into each other's universes. But slowly, they begin to realise just why fate has brought them together, and they must uncover sinister and dangerous secrets that threaten their lives. Just how far will the Republic go to protect its dark secrets?

I really loved the characters in this, particularly Day. He had a spark about him that I loved, and some things he said were absolutely wonderful, and I got to put down the book and just chuckle to myself for a bit. Not only did I love the characters, I also loved the world and the way everything was set up. The whole idea was just spectacularly executed, and I am excited to see where this series is going.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good dystopian adventure, particularly one where you can solve crimes and add up clues given to you throughout the story. It was a fantastic book and I suggest you go and pick it up right away :)

If you have read Legend, leave a comment telling me your thoughts (no spoilers for the next books please) along with your twitter name and I will follow you and give you a shout out.

Have a spectacular day,
lily xoxo

Anna and the French Kiss Review

Hello fellow earthbooklings! Today I will be reviewing a book called Anna And The French Kiss. Now I
know what people who have similar tastes to me will be thinking. What?! Yes. I actually read this book.

Some advice for people when picking up the book: don't read the blurb! It's awful and horrendous and you certainly shouldn't judge the book on it. Also, don't judge this book by its cover! The cover is also terrible, and the content inside is just so good in comparison. And one last thing- PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE TITLE. Just read it, it's a super cutesy, laid back, easy read and I definitely recommend it if you've just read a fantasy epic and feel like a bit of a break.

This book is about a girl, who's unbelievably called Anna, who is sent to a boarding school in Paris. The story revolves around her and the way she develops new relationships and copes with the ones back at home that she's been severed from. There is obviously a quite important love story and it's pretty cute I gotta say...

Anyways go and read and come back here to discuss!

***SPOILERS***
Okie dokie! Let's get started. This book was not something I would have picked up without being basically forced to by several of my book friends and real life friends. It is certainly something I've been putting off reading forever! And if you follow my goodreads, you'll know that I attempted to start Scarlet, the second book in the Lunar Chronicles, but I was struggling with it and thought I might just need something easy and cute. So I finally relented. And I'm kinda glad I did.

One of my favourite things in this book was the cafeteria, and the food. Gosh that sounds bad but every time they went out for lunch or even just had a school meal, I think I died from the descriptions of the food. GIVE ME THE DELICIOUS FOOD!

Now that's out of the way, let's start with the main part of the story- the relationship between Étienne and Anna. It was clear from the start where this book was going. We all knew that Étienne and Anna would end up together. But the way their relationship was dealt with was really quite sweet... It was clear they liked one another, but where there was opportunities for scandal and angsty love triangles, the author didn't take them. Their relationship was mainly "just friends" during this book, until towards the end, and I think that was a really good thing, although I was maybe yelling "JUST KISS!" through some of the more frustrating chapters.

Their relationship was always going to be problematic, with Anna's new best friend, Mer, liking Étienne. I wondered how this issue was going to be solved, and I was a little iffy about the solution. In my mind, Bridgette hooking up with Toph after Anna had kissed him was much worse than Anna kissing Étienne when all Mer had done was like him. Yes, Anna probably should have talked it through with Mer and been a bit more careful, but there was really no problem of cheating. However, Anna had kissed Toph, and there was clearly something going on between them. But then Anna leaves, Bridge steals Toph and they get together behind Anna's back. Although what Anna did probably wasn't fair on her friend, what Bridgette did was just plain sneaky and mean.

Whilst reading other reviews about this book, I came across a common trend- people hated that Anna thought moving to Paris was bad. Now, I do think this is a little unfair. Anna was forced to move to a foreign country she'd never been to without her family and attend a school with new people and face it all completely alone. If I was in her situation, I would be crying too. I would be furious, I would want to go home and I would resent the fact I was in Paris. Lots of people were complaining, "this girl gets sent to Paris and complains… first world problems much?", however I don't think it would've mattered where she was being sent… New York or Tokyo, Rome or Sydney, she still would've felt alone and unloved. Can you imagine being sent away, against your will, to somewhere unknown, alone, by the people who are meant to love you? Yeah, think that over for a second and imagine being a confused sixteen year old girl as well.

I think Anna and I are very similar, which is why I felt I had to speak up for her in the above paragraph. I felt that the ways she approached situations and the way she reacted reflected the ways I would also act, and I don't know about you guys, but this is why I really liked her character. Not to mention the fact that she loved movies. Normally, it's poetry or books that a main female character is obsessed with, but I found Anna really unique in her obsession with old (and new) movies and thought it was really cool how she ran a blog to help her with her future career… sounds like someone else I know.

I can't say I didn't like Étienne. I very much liked Étienne. Maybe it was the accent and the way he was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, I'm not exactly sure. He was a little too perfect, and I didn't love him as much as I loved Kai, from Cinder, the book I read before this. But I loved him because Anna loved him, and when I saw him, I saw him through her eyes, and I have to say, that was pretty cute.

The scenes where they were doing the wishes, it was clear what Étienne was wishing, you could see his infatuation with Anna from the very start. I found it interesting how this time, there was a girlfriend thrown into the mix. Normally, in angsty teen romance novels, it starts off with the boy and girl being rivals, almost hating each other. Then they slowly fall in love and have to battle through their conflicting emotions until at the end everything falls apart and they end up together. That was interesting the first three times, but the five hundred thousand million after that were less impressive. That's why I found it so much more realistic that not only did Étienne have a girlfriend, Anna had a major crush. I was so much more excited to see how they would work around their current relationships to end up together.

I found that Étienne was using Ellie as a safety blanket very early on, which was definitely explored later on in the book. The way he knew he wasn't in love with her, but he kept her there for fear of change really annoyed me, however I am probably a lot like him in that respect. I hate change. But I don't know if I would be able to stay with someone who I know I didn't love. Anyways, I wasn't sure that he was no longer in love with her until a little further on, but once I did, I was waiting for the moment to strike where Ellie would be out of the picture. And I couldn't wait.

I also couldn't wait for Toph to run off with Bridge. That was one of the many things that was oh so predictable in this book, and everyone knew it was going to happen. What better way to kick Toph out of the scene to free up Anna for Étienne than to have her best friend hook up with him? It was perfect, and as I predicted, it came true.

During Anna's stay back in Atlanta, I loved her email conversations with Étienne. After there had been such coldness between them before (and the new coldness that was to come after), these emails brought me hope and were absolutely gorgeously cute. When they talked about wanting to visit one another I was just begging the universe to stop trying to pull this perfect couple apart. I loved that Anna could talk to him, and convince him out of his room when they were staying at school over Thanksgiving. Étienne's mother's cancer was something that confused me a bit. Maybe it was a plot device to draw Anna and Étienne closer through demonstration that Anna could help him when no one else can, or maybe it was there for some deep, metaphorical meaning that I missed, but it just kind of confused me… If anyone has any insight, please leave a comment I'd love to discuss!

One of my favourite things was Anna's father. Of course, I hated him, and he reminded me of several real life authors, but his character in the story was something I was so thankful for. He was something other than the typical YA dad stereotypes- either dead, divorced, not there, horrible or a complete push-over. He had a character, and I always find that parents in YA get overlooked easily. It makes things for a writer so much easier if the parents aren't around; there's less rules on your character and reason for hurt and angst. So even though he was a mean person, he was still a part of the story, and the way he was created, with the obnoxious books and the sweaters and fake tan, was just a really interesting side of it.

So you may just see this as another teen angst romance novel. And in some ways, from the outset, it is. From the outset, everything looks a lot vaguer. Hunger Games may look like an angsty love triangle set in a bad alternate future. BBC Sherlock may look like a bunch of normal people dealing with a crime-solving sociopath. But when you delve deeper, you realise that Hunger Games is actually about the problems in our society, and how the world could turn if we don't take control and think our actions through. We see that BBC Sherlock is about adrenaline addicted ex-army doctors, ex-CIA agents trying to cover their pasts, super smart landladies, sweet pathologists who can convince criminals to watch Glee and a broken man who shuts his feelings away to stop himself from being hurt.

So yeah, you may see AATFK as an angsty teen romance novel. You may think it's too "low-brow" for you. But please stop, think, pick up the book and think about it critically before you judge it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a cute read.

Sorry for that life lesson in books there but I felt it was necessary to say that just because a book hasn't been released in a gold-embossed classics cover by Dymocks or Barnes and Noble doesn't mean it's not worth reading.

Anyways, I definitely recommend this book, and I really did like this, but I'm super happy to discuss in the comments! If you're leaving a comment, put your twitter name there as well and I can follow/shout you out :)

Have a lovely day,
lily xoxo