Bryony Pearce

Wow, this book really grabbed me.
Little Rumours is told from three mums’ points of view, Naomi has lived in Exton Cross all of her life and knows everything and everyone. Aleema has lived there for three years and has not a single friend and Kelly is the outsider and has a past that she doesn’t want anyone else to know.
One of the children goes missing and the police are trying to find where she is and why she has been taken we get to delve into the three women’s lives more and learn that not all is as it seems and they all have secrets.

The book flowed at an even pace and we got to know each of the characters well, there were times when I liked them all, times when I didn’t quite get what they were about, and times when I didn’t like them at all.
The finale was very good and unexpected. What a brilliant book, I will definitely be looking out for more from this author!
… (meer)

Little Rumours by Bryony Pearce is a highly recommended domestic thriller concerning three very different women searching for a missing child.

In Exton Cross everyone knows everyone else and their family and new comers are basically unwelcome. Little Rumours follows three different mothers and their children. Naomi, who grew up in Exton Cross, is an accepted member of the community. Aleema has lived here for three years and hasn't made a single friend even though she's married to a local, but she's a newcomer and Muslim, therefore suspect. Kelly is an outsider and wants it to stay that way to protect her privacy. When Aleema's daughter Mia disappears, the whole community starts looking, but the rumours and accusations also start flying.

The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of Naomi, Aleema, and Kelly in alternating chapters. Aleema and Kelly are fully realized and complicated characters with secrets and fears they want to keep hidden. Their children are all best friends, which is what pulls the three women together in searching for Mia, but also tears them apart. Most of the characters aren't always easy to connect with because they aren't all that likable. The alternating viewpoints, however, work well in the plot.

Little Rumours didn't immediately capture my complete attention during the slow start, but this did serve as a time to introduce all the characters and set up the action. There are all manner of social problems thrown into the mix along the way and the tension and suspense rises as the search for Mia continues. While it is a compelling concept for a plot, it did feel like it ran a little long and could have been tightened up. 3.5

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Avon via NetGalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/06/little-rumours.html… (meer)

Exton Cross is the perfect small town to go unnoticed. At least that was what Kelly hoped for when she and her son Joe moved there. But when little Mia, a friend of Joe, vanishes from the playground, her past is threatened to be revealed. While Kelly is still worried about what might have happened, Aleema, Mia’s mother, fears for the worst. She never wanted to leave Manchester in the first place, but with her mother-in-law ill, they thought it was the best. And now her daughter is missing. Naomi on the contrast, has always lived there, she knows everything about everybody – at least she thinks so. Even though she is worried about the girl, she is also eager to protect her neighbourhood from foreigners and her lifelong friend who recently moved back will help her.

Bryony Pearce’s psychological thriller incorporates everything I hate about rural or small town life: your neighbours not only eye every step you take and nothing remains private. Gossip is part of everyday life and everybody knows everything about each other. As a newcomer, you will never fit in, the ranks are closed and the locals will speculate and spread rumours without hesitation, especially if you differ. The story is told alternatingly from the three women’s point of view thus illustrating how their “Little Rumours” come to life, are spread and what they do to those they affect.

I totally adored the thriller. First of all, the mystery about the vanished girl is not easy to solve, even though at some point, characters tend to become suspicious, there are several leads all likewise probable. Second, I love to hate those small town characters like Naomi, limited in their world-view they spring at anything unknown and believe themselves right in any respect not perceiving what harm they cause. Third, the female characters could hardly differ more. They are well portrayed, each unique in their struggles and fears and thus, it is easy to follow their line of thoughts. You quickly come to form an opinion about the characters and then, while reading, you have to modify your views since they are more complex than you gave them credit for in the first place.

A suspenseful thriller with some unexpected twists and a modern day witch hunt of the evilest type.… (meer)

This review and others posted over at my blog.

A middle-grade book about pirates in a post-apocalyptic setting? Sign me up! When I initially requested this book I thought it would give me Shipbreaker vibes. Unfortunately, I was disappointed on all counts and wish I’d just re-read Shipbreaker.

My biggest issue with this book was my inability to picture most of what was going on. The bulk of the story takes place on the ship and the trash-filled sea and I couldn’t clearly picture either. From what I gather, a series of natural disasters destroyed the society as we know it and knocked out much of our technology. The sun disappeared for a few years, but now it’s back. The ocean has some sort of deadly levels of salt or acid or something and it’s full of trash and old vehicles and all sorts of stuff that pirates could salvage. None of this information gave me a clear picture and it felt like disaster overkill.

The Phoenix is mostly wood, I think, but maybe also had some metal parts and the bridge is made of glass (not sure why that’d be beneficial, but what do I know?) It has two different types of engines, one for traditional fuel and another for combustibles, and it also has paddles. There is a diagram of the ship at the beginning of the book but when it came to trying to imagine the characters navigating the ship, I simply couldn’t do it and just imaged the deck of a basic, ye olde pirate ship.

Pair my confusion with the fact that next to nothing happens for the first 50% of the book and I was ready to call it quits. I primarily kept going because I requested the book and the writing isn’t bad, it just didn’t capture my attention and I think perhaps the book was taking on too much at once. Even with the low level of action at the start of the book, the characters didn’t feel well developed either.

The crew of The Phoenix is forgettable. The captain is kind but firm and dedicated to his ragtag crew of semi-criminals. Various crew members are mentioned throughout the book – some more than others, and they seem to either like Toby or dislike him. There’s a pair of bully brothers, who I think are much too old to be tormenting and threatening the fourteen-ish-year-old son of the captain. Toby feels much younger than his age and is more caring and trusting than I think a child who grew up with a hard life at sea, amidst a ship full of wanted men and women, should be.

There’s even a mechanical parrot who goes by the clichéd name of Polly. She was apparently created by the captain before the world completely fell apart and though I think she’s supposed to add a steampunk feel to the novel, she felt magical instead. She has a metal skeleton and many of her abilities are explained with her “biomass” something-or-other and she has real feathers and looks real, but she needs to vacuum up pellets (of unknown substance) for power. She can store and download information like a computer and her personality is “cares for Toby.”

No one on the rival ship really matters except its captain, Nell, and her daughter and second in command, Ayla. Nell is mean, bent on vengeance and not very violent considering she’s so ruthless and her crew is supposed to frighten the pants off everyone else. Ayla is pretty, smart, good with a sword and doesn’t require her head shaved and a skull tattoo like every other crew member (male or female) likely because she’s the captain’s daughter and Toby’s potential love interest. Despite her purported awesomeness, I didn’t understand why she was chosen as second in command as a fifteen-year-old and I didn’t peg Captain Nell as one for nepotism.

The plot picks up somewhat at the end, but based on the opinion I’d formed of Toby I didn’t find his role in a rescue mission believable. His relationship with Ayla is an awkward back and forth of trust issues and unwarranted care for each other and I kept forgetting they were teens because they behaved more like ten-year-olds. The stakes felt low because I had no connection with any of the characters and there was some info-dumping that could have fleshed out the characters some, but I was too tired to care at that point.

I think Pearce was trying to cram too much into one book and as a result, the world-building, characters and plot all fell flat for me. This book is clearly a setup for the next in the series, but I won’t be continuing.

I received this book from Sky Pony Press in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)