Barker and Jones

Reviews and information from Barker and Jones, Naas

[barkerandjones]

Author visit

Yesterday the wonderful Anna McPartlin came to visit our store and talk with some schoolchildren. I think she enjoyed it, and I learned that pepper spray is illegal in Ireland! So fun times all around.

[barkerandjones]

New Titles

How amazing do these look together? Hurry and buy your copies before they're all gone!

[barkerandjones]

Meat Market by Juno Dawson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jana is scouted by a modeling agency at Thorpe park. Surprised and suspicious at first, she's soon pulled into the fast paced world of high fashion, earning thousands just for walking while wearing clothes. Modeling is not a kind industry, though, and she soon finds herself caught up in the seedy side of things, alone and unprotected.

Juno Dawson has a way of cutting straight to the heart of things. Surprisingly, I found this easier to read than Clean, which was desperately distressing: this one is upsetting, but in smaller doses, so it was easier to keep going. I enjoyed it very much and felt great satissfaction at the end. I was also pleasently surprised when Jana's narration turned out to be entirely innocent; I'd been expecting a magazine exposé or a police interview, but it was much more benign than that.

A fantastic read, I really enjoyed it.

(Note that curses are not hidden in the novel.) By the end of the shoot, I don't feel quite so ridiculous. No matter how mad I feel pretending to walk on the spot, at least I can see the pictures popping up on Ro's laptop and they do look pretty cool. 'You can't take a bad picture, babes,' Ro tells me. I guess that's why Tom is good at his job - he knows who's gonna look good in pictures, however weird they look in real life. 'I think we're good, Layla. We have so many choices.' 'Yeah? Wicked.' She comes over and gives me a big hug. 'You're a trooper, babe. I wanna shoot you again. I'm serious.' 'Really?' 'Abso-f***ing-lutely. You got it, babe.' 'Thank you.' I sense Arabella is waiting for the same feedback, but Layla doesn't seem to notice she's still here. 'You're a sweet kid. Hang on to that for as long as you can. Don't become a c**t, even if you can get away with it.' Layla's assistant starts taking the backdrop down and it all wraps up in a flurry of air kisses. I mostly want the shoes off. As I change into my vest and jeans again, I can't help but feel a bit less special, like Clark Kent putting the tie and glasses back on.

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[barkerandjones]

Stepsister

The Ugly Stepsisters never get much limelight in most versions of Cinderella, other than to laugh at their misfortunes. Luckily for everyone, this is not a version of Cinderella, not really. This is about what happens afterwards, when Ella goes with the Prince and the Stepsisters are left at home with a mother they were never good enough for. This is mostly Isabelle's story; as a child she was fearless, strong and fast, but not pretty. Never pretty. And in the world they grew up in, not pretty was almost a death sentence. When beautiful Ella came into their lives Isabelle allowed jealousy to poison her heart, but now, left alone and crippled, she realises what she's lost and longs to regain it. This is a wonderful story of redemption and believing in oneself. Isabelle is a wonderful character, surrounded by a cast of other wonderful characters. The interaction between the Marquis and Tantine is one of the highlights of an amazing book. I really enjoyed this book. The magician pulled the actress close. She kissed her cheeks and wiped her tears away with a handkerchief. Then she balled the handkerchief up and pressed it between her palms. When she opened her hands again, it was gone and a butterfly was sitting in its place. As the three women watched, the butterfly took wing, carried aloft by the breeze. It flew past a little monkey playing with a rope of pearls. Past a violinist and a trumpeter, a cook, a scientist, and three ballerinas, all with scars of their own. Past a man with amber eyes, raging at the falling dusk. Swearing at the treacherous roads. Building his teetering human tower taller and taller. A smile, small but defiant, curved the magician's full red lips. "That's what we do with our pain," she said, watching the butterfly rise. "We make it into something beautiful." "We make it into something meaningful," said the diva. "We make it matter," whispered the actress.

[barkerandjones]

The classic Milly Molly Mandy stories have been reissued by Macmillan Children’s Books in these beautiful paperback editions. These are ideal for any child who is learning to read, as the easy language and simple stories will give them great confidence. (They'll also make you very hungry.)

[barkerandjones]

Heart breaking, thought provoking novel about family secrets and mental health. Poor Evan had it tough, trying to deal with her estranged father, injured stepbrother, creepy as all hell stepfather and disintegrating friendships, all at once. I wouldn't have done half as well as she did. I liked her supporting cast, too, especially Billy. All in all a great book, shining a light on some very important issues. I love the inclusion of some important resources at the end.

[barkerandjones]

Shades of Heidi in this fantastic read. Peony's a great heroine, and I love that even though an apocalyptic thing has happened - the bees are all gone - humans have adapted and things don't seem much worse than they are now. That's unusual for this kind of book. A great read to accompany nature lessons.

[barkerandjones]

Whisper by Lynette Noni

A good fantasy/adventure novel, with a unique sets of powers I haven't seen anywhere else. There's a hint of romance, but not too strong, and some good characters. I'll be looking out for the rest of the series to get answers to the unanswered questions at the end, but at least it wasn't technically a cliffhanger so it won't eat at me while I wait for the next one! I liked the setting, as well; I don't read many books set in Australia. Hopefully the next one will feature more of actual Australia and not just endless corridors and underground rooms... Very much enjoyed this.

[barkerandjones]

Clean

I marked it down a star only because it's actually really uncomfortable to read in spots. Being that deeply inside an addict's head is confusing and upsetting and scary, and it lingered even after I'd closed the book - not that I did that very often, as I badly wanted to find out what happened next. I felt every bit of Lexi's struggles, both in the 'now' scenes and the flashbacks to her past. I'll admit, I went into this expecting a 'poor little rich girl' scenario, but Lexi's struggles and pain were real and truthful and I came out with a much better understanding. I enjoyed meeting her fellow inmates and seeing the differences between them, the little moments of triumph. All around a sharp, incisive book that deserves to sell much more than it's probably going to.

[barkerandjones]

Lady Mary

I really enjoyed Victoria, and Lady Mary is just as good. I don't know a lot about the English monarchs, but these books make them really come alive and I can understand them and what they fought for. This would tie in really well to a history lesson, or for anyone reading The Prince and the Pauper for that matter!

A fantastic read, I enjoyed it very much.

[barkerandjones]

Isle of Blood and Stone

A fantastic adventure story, peopled with amazing characters. The world building was just right, information given at the right times without being too much or feeling like a lecture. I'd love to read plenty more in this universe, but if this is the only one it ended at just the right place. I loved Reyna, poor kid, and Elias was a great lead character. Generally speaking the characters were well defined; I was a little confused about a couple of the very minor ones, but that's all. A good trick in a novel with so many characters in. I'll be looking forward to more from Makiia.

[barkerandjones]

When the Mountains Roared

 The descriptions in this book are brilliant, evoking the jungle and the animals there. There's some horrifying descriptions of poaching, but that's something we should be horrified about. The ending was a little bit Scooby-Doo; confronted by one photo implicating him, the villain immediately confesses to everything including things there was no proof of.  But overall it's an interesting adventure story that shines a light on an important issue facing the world today.

[barkerandjones]

Boy 87

Shif, a young boy in a nameless but presumably Middle Eastern country, flees to avoid conscription. It's the start of a long journey to what he hopes will be freedom in England, meeting and losing different people along the way. The country is nameless, but the journey echoes those many people, many children, are being forced to take simply to stay alive. This is a heartfelt little book; it would be great to use in a classroom as the start of a discussion about refugees. Be aware, while the actual violence is restricted to some pushes and shoves and some 'offscreen' shooting, it's clear that some characters die during the book. A boat tips over and it's clear some people have drowned.

[barkerandjones]

Savage Island

I've read several of the Red Eye Books now - growing up on a diet of Point Horror and Christopher Pike has left its' mark. For terrifying, icy cold, leave-the-light-on, Alex Bell is queen. But for psychological, chilling, what-would-I-do-I'd-never-do-that-but-what-if-what-if-what, it's Bryony Pearce all the way. She simply can't be bettered. (She's also excellent at cliff hangers, but that's another topic.) Five teenagers join an 'Iron Teen' contest, billed as an endurance test crossed with an intelligence test. Between them, they think they can handle anything. When they reach the isolated island, however, they find out exactly how wrong they are. Soon they're injured, cut off from help and being hunted down. And as they soon learn, they can't trust anyone...including each other... There's a couple of chapters where I wasn't too sure, but once they hit the island the pace never lets up. One character reveal came as a surprise to me. The other I figured out early on, but I'm fairly sure we were meant to. A horrifying incident not too far in sets the tone for the rest of the novel, and the pace never eases off all the way to the end. Thrilling and chilling, a great story for a horror fan. Be wary of some violence. I was reading an eARC, so I'm sure this will be fixed in the final edition, but there were several very abrupt flashbacks. A couple of times I had to stop, go back and reread to figure out what was going on. I've marked down one star for that. But I'll definitely be looking out for more Bryony books. I look forward to being chilled by her all over again.

[barkerandjones]

The Wicked Deep

I loved the writing and the mythology of this book. It was so well thought out and well presented. I enjoyed learning each new little bit of the backstory, and the writing flowed really well. However, a big twist fell flat for me because I didn't feel like I knew the character in question well enough for it to have any impact, and part of the epilogue seemed to negate part of the climax for me. Despite those things, though, I really enjoyed reading this and I'll look forward to selling it and reading other titles by the author.

[barkerandjones]

The Truth About Alice

Slow to start off with, but picked up speed at around 25% and didn't slow down again. I had trouble telling the narrators apart, except for Kurt, but that's often a problem for me so it's probably not the writing. I didn't find anything particularly stand out about any of the characters - there's the Mean Girl, the Follower, the Jock, the Nerd, and The Girl Everyone Thinks Is A Slut Even Though She Isn't. It was well written, though. Not quite as good as Moxie, but Jennifer's not-quite-as-good is still head and shoulders above a lot of other writers.

[barkerandjones]

More than we can Tell

Brigid has done it again. The amazing Rev, best side character in Letters, gets center stage here in this wonderful story about strength and courage. He and Emma suffer through some incredible things and both come out bruised but stronger. I was worried about one particular character and I was sad to realise I was right, but that was true to life as well. I loved all the rest of the side characters, especially Dec. Their friendship was amazing. I think I cried three times during this novel, which is more than Letters. So they're clearly getting better. Can't wait for the next one.