BLOG TOUR: The Secret Collector - Abigail Johnson

When an elderly eccentric collector and a troubled teen become each other's only hope of getting their lives back on track, what can possibly go wrong?

Alfred is an elderly widower who uses antiques and collectibles to fill the hole in his heart left by his late wife. Kian is a lost teen who has been let down by the care system and finds it difficult staying on the straight and narrow.

After Kian throws a brick through Alfred's window, the shock sends Alfred to hospital and a social worker to his home, where his hoarding becomes impossible to ignore.

Begrudgingly, and at the request of the authorities, they both agree to enrol Kian on a restorative justice programme, helping to make Alfred’s home liveable again. The only problem: Alfred doesn't want to throw any of his treasures away, and he certainly doesn’t want Kian for company.

What unfolds is a surprising and delightful journey of two characters who help each other more than they ever could have anticipated and, along the way, form the unlikeliest of friendships.

An uplifting and warm story about friendship across generations, the power of community and finding hope where it had been lost. Perfect for fans of Sally Page’s The Keeper of Stories and Evie Woods's The Lost Bookshop.

 

What did I think?

Abigail Johnson stole my weekend and her wonderful characters stole my heart; once I picked up The Secret Collector I couldn't put it down and I will never forget Alfred and Kian.

Although he could easily be mistaken for a hoarder, Alfred is quick to point out that he is a collector and he keeps an inventory of all the weird and wonderful items that he has collected over the years.  Alfred lives alone after he lost his wife and his collecting drove a wedge between him and his daughter.  When Alfred's house is attacked by Kian, a troubled young man, social services get involved and arrange for Kian to tidy Alfred's house as his punishment.

Oh Alfred!  As if he hasn't suffered enough!  Who's to say how Alfred is living is wrong?  He's just trying to cope with his grief and he's not hurting anyone.  Having his house invaded is as much a punishment for Alfred as it is for Kian...or at least it starts out that way.  As Alfred gets to know Kian an unlikely friendship forms and what a charming and heartwarming story this is.

The Secret Collector really made me stop and think about how quickly we label and judge people.  I admit to thinking Alfred was a hoarder and Kian was a wrong 'un at the start of the book but I was proved wrong so it just shows that you should never judge a book by its cover.  

Completely unforgettable and incredibly uplifting, The Secret Collector is an unmissable book that I will be reading again whenever I need a pick-me-up.  It's an outstanding debut novel that I really can't recommend highly enough and I would give it more than five stars if I could.  I loved it! 

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK

Amazon

Follow the tour:

Love Like Bleeding Out with an Empty Gun in Your Hand: Poems and Stories - Stephen J. Golds

 

An aging hitman is embittered by his career choice at the point of no return. A shell-shocked soldier in World War Two finds hope through death, reflected in the eyes of his enemy. A serial killer confesses in veiled, lurching prose. A mobster unravels at the zero hour of this mortal coil. A man reevaluates existence after discovering a suicide. These are some of the twenty-nine dark, twisted, and gritty stories by Stephen J. Golds collected here for the first time — bound taut with thirty poems of loss, love, and other thoughts that haunt you after last call.

What did I think?

WOW!  This short story and poetry collection from Stephen J. Golds absolutely blew me away.  I have to be honest and say that I'm not a fan of short stories (or indeed poetry) as they always seem incomplete and leave me feeling unsatisfied.  So why did I read this book, I hear you say.  Well simply because I am a huge fan of Stephen J. Golds unique writing; it has such an inimitable vintage noir quality that continually makes my jaw drop.  If all short stories were like these, I'd definitely be a fan!  

With such a varied range of characters and settings, Love Like Bleeding Out with an Empty Gun in Your Hand is an exquisite collection of exceptional short stories.  Stories that are often chilling but filled with emotion and stunning visual depictions.  I found myself comparing Stephen J. Golds' written word to Quentin Tarantino's movies - they are both masters at depicting violence in an artistic way but I have to say that the book is better.  Golds easily kicks Tarantino's ass!

The final 10% of the book is made up of poems but I've never been able to grasp poetry and unfortunately I still don't get it.  As much as it felt completely alien to me, I could still appreciate and marvel at the quality of the writing.  I'm sure Stephen J. Golds could make his shopping list appear dark, sinister and lyrical.

What is amazing about this collection is that the quality of the stories doesn't waiver at all.  The bar is set extremely high from the start and it doesn't dip at all; every single story is outstanding and that's no mean feat as there are 29 stories in the book.  Even with a gun to my head, I wouldn't be able to pick a favourite from among them as I loved them all and I'll definitely be rereading them again.

Dark, chilling, gritty and exquisitely written, Love Like Bleeding Out with an Empty Gun in Your Hand is the best collection of short stories I have ever read.   Incredibly highly recommended and well deserving of nothing less than 5 stars for this magnificent collection.

Many thanks to Stephen J. Golds for sending me a digital ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Tales of Mystery Unexplained - Steph Young

Tales of Mystery Unexplained....What happened to Elisa Lam, found dead in a water tower atop a hotel roof? Who were the two men who came to see her & what was in the mystery box they gave her? Why did the location of her gravestone match the zip code of a Bookstore, miles away?  

Why was a man found in the same spot he disappeared, but 4 years later, with a hole in his head that no surgeons could explain? And what did this have to do with a séance, doppelgangers & the assassination of Abraham Lincoln?  Why did a man write the Fibonacci sequence as a clue & tell a stranger he was “Looking for the Beast,” before he disappeared in the barren plains of a desert?  Plus many more Tales of Mystery Unexplained.  

Steph Young has appeared on national radio shows & podcasts including the UK's The Unexplained, and Coast to Coast Am, talking about many of these mysteries.  

You can also hear some of these Unexplained Mysteries on her podcast on iTunes ‘Tales of Mystery Unexplained.’

What did I think?

With having so many books to read, it's rare that I read a newly received book, however, Tales of Mystery Unexplained sounded so unique that it didn't even have time to gather a single speck of dust on my TBR.  When you read so much fiction, there's nothing better than reading some real life mysteries and Steph Young has chosen some amazing true stories to recount that are indeed stranger than fiction.

As I've often said, I love reading books that have me pausing to google things and boy did I hit google when reading this book!  I think I would have read the book a lot faster if I hadn't kept stopping to google, but in doing so it made reading a completely three dimensional experience.  I not only experienced the fantastic descriptions provided by Steph Young, but I got to see some things with my own eyes thanks to CCTV shared on the internet.

I love how some of the stories had me revelling in the unexplained but simultaneously considering scientific explanations.  It really made me appreciate how complex the human brain is and just like a computer, how badly things can go wrong when it fails.  Although I felt that psychotic break could maybe explain part of what happened in some cases, it certainly doesn't apply to all of them.  

As per the title, what you won't find in this book is explanations for these mysteries.  They are very much open and unexplained cases and this wasn't as unsatisfying as I first expected.  I admit that part of me would have liked a nice explanation to finish off each story but the fact that they remain unexplained is definitely part of the charm of this book.  I did find myself asking questions and thinking outside of the box, almost as if I was part of the investigation team myself.

I was surprised to find that a good proportion of the stories were from the UK, in fact 7 out of 12, with the remainder being American mysteries.  There's also a good spread of time periods with the earliest story dating back to 1621 and the latest being the intriguing case of Elisa Lam in 2013.  I had never heard of this case but I bet that everyone who reads the book will end up googling the CCTV footage from a Los Angeles hotel elevator of the last known movements of Elisa Lam.  

The content is fascinating and well written, although I did find the text a little repetitive at times; this would work well in a podcast to stress important facts but wasn't really needed in print.  The cover of the book also disturbed me a little with the title appearing to be 'Tales of Unexplained Mystery' rather than 'Tales of Mystery Unexplained' as per the spine and title page.  They were just minor annoyances though, and didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.  

Tales of Mystery Unexplained is a fascinating and brilliantly written collection of true stories that are most definitely stranger than fiction.  I thought it would be a 'dip in and out of' kind of book but I simply couldn't put it down.  I am completely hooked now and have looked up many of the cases on google already and have subscribed to Steph Young's podcast of the same name.  I'm sure I'll be regaling my family and friends with some of these stories that I've added to my brain's interesting and unusual facts collection.  It may be a quick read but it's one that I'll be thinking about and discussing for a very long time to come.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon