Wednesday 30 June 2010

Book Review: CLAN BY DAVID P ELLIOT



Genre: Supernatural Thriller

Published by: Moorhen LLP (Dec 2008)

Pages: 251 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8.5/10









CLAN BY DAVID P ELLIOT

About the Book:

David Elliot (the author and the central character share the same name) is 57, frustrated, out of work and has three failed marriages behind him. He goes to the borders of Scotland hoping that his ancestry will help him find some validation of his life.
Accompanied by his daughter, son-in-law and his beloved grandson, Thomas, Elliot finds that his bloodline leads his family into terrifying danger. 700 years of history threaten those he holds dearest as myth and reality of the “The Bloodiest Valley in Britain” combine.
The corruption of the rich and powerful meets legend as Good and Evil clash over the lust for the ancient Throne of Scotland and power in the modern world.
William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Border Reivers, creatures of supernatural horror and past heroes of the Elliot Clan are all involved as the evil Lord William de Soulis actions his plan to assume power over an unsuspecting world.
All that stands against him is a family fighting desperately to protect a child.
Their only weapon is their love of family… the power of their Clan.

My Thoughts:

This is David Elliot's debut novel and what an exciting, gory, suspenseful story it is!

Set in the present time, the story goes back and forth over 700 years of bloody history of the border clans.

David Elliot is an unhappy man, he is terrified of dying having achieved nothing he felt was worthwhile in his life. He decides to learn more about his family history and he and his daughter, son-in-law and grandson travel from Oxford to the England/Scotland border and stay in a local cottage.

At the same time a dark evil spirit, William de Soulis, has, over the centuries, been slowly gaining power and money with the help of a murderer, Andrea Dettori, and some evil dwarfs called 'Red Caps'. He has been trapped in the nearby haunted and brooding Hermitage Castle -- in the hope of coming back to earth to live again as a human and rule, he would sacrifice anything or anyone for the power and standing he thinks he is entitled to...........including the innocent Elliot family whose destiny is somehow wrapped up with Soulis's.

Hermitage Castle sat brooding on the edge of what was once the 'Debatable Lands', a three mile wide and twelve mile long strip of rough moorland, a few miles to the north of Carlisle, which marked the disputed border area between Scotland and England. So politically sensitive was this area, that the mere building of this powerful defensive icon in the 13th century, gave Henry III an excuse to invade Scotland, claiming it had been built too close to the border.


This is the age-old battle of good versus evil with a few twists and turns thrown in, and some of the writing is a little gory, especially the battle scenes.

The stories of the clan families warring with each other down the years I found interesting and I presumed there really is an Elliot Clan Chief as she has a quote on the back of the book, all of which I knew nothing about.

The chapter where we are introduced to the business partners of Andrea Dettori and of how they obtained their wealth went over my head and I found it quite boring, and I'm not sure if it added too much to the story.

However, I thought the overall storyline was very good, with just enough happening to keep me wanting to read on. I liked the Elliot family and I really got involved in their torment, and as a mother myself I could certainly identify with Kate's protection of her young son, which was quite moving.

David P Elliot's website can be found here and I must thank the author for sending me this book to review.

To see what other people are saying about Clan see Goodreads

Another book I would recommend in the same horror genre is Dark Worlds: Book 1: Project 31 by Zack Daggy.



Monday 28 June 2010

BOOK CHALLENGE: ‘I’m taking part in the Transworld Dan Brown Summer Reading Challenge!’




I've never taken part in a book reading challenge before, but when I saw Transworld's Summer Reading Challenge of reading 4 books I thought I'd give it a go. All I have to do is pick 4 books - read them before the end of Summer and post my reviews on here.

The books I have chosen are:-

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

E Squared by Matt Beaumont

61 Hours by Lee Child

After You by Julie Buxbaum

Friday 18 June 2010

BOOKS THAT I'M TAKING ON MY HOLIDAYS...........


As I'm off on my holidays tomorrow I thought I'd let you know what I'll be reading while I'm away.

I've been reading Clan by David P Elliot for the past couple of weeks and I really wanted to finish this and put a review on before I went away. But, due to illness I haven't really felt like reading recently so I'll probably finish it while I'm on holiday.

When I've read Clan my next book is The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan.









For the last few years while I've been away I've listened to a different Harry Potter on my ipod. This year it's the turn of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that I'll be listening to while relaxing on my sunbed!









And as if all that wasn't enough, I'll be taking my Sony eReader as well and hope to finish The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I started it a few months ago, but, for some reason, I haven't been able to get into it.


A nice mix of different genres that I'm looking forward to reading and I'll review them (if I finish them!) when I get back.

Sunday 13 June 2010

BOOK NEWS: Literary Life - Publicity Schemes for Books


Publicity schemes, in praise of booksellers, a libidinous chimp... Mark Sanderson surveys the literary world

With publishers’ marketing departments suffering cut-backs like everyone else writers are increasingly having to rely on their own promotional skills to get their books noticed. Take Jennifer Belle, for example, author of The Seven Year Bitch. The New Yorker recently auditioned 100 actresses before choosing 40 of them to read her novel ostentatiously in such public places as Times Square and burst out laughing at frequent intervals. 'Publishing is no laughing matter these days’, said Ms Belle. The actresses – who were paid just $8 an hour – would no doubt agree.

One way publishers attempt to gain publicity is by means of bribes – well, freebies. This week some Swedish biscuits called 'Singoalla’ and a packet of ground coffee arrived to promote Camilla Ceder’s Scandinavian bestseller Frozen Moment, which will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in August. Perhaps the novel should be re-titled Frozen Brain: the only thing missing from the parcel was the book.

Shakespeare & Company, the English-language bookshop in Paris that first published James Joyce’s Ulysses, will be holding its biannual literary festival next weekend. To mark the occasion it is launching a literary prize worth 10,000 Euros for the best novella (comprising 20,000 to 30,000 words) by an unpublished author. Full details will be available at www.shakespeare andcompany.com from 20 June. Meanwhile, the Paris Magazine, which was founded in the shop in 1967, will be published for only the fourth time.

Tomorrow sees the start of Independent Booksellers Week which aims to highlight the range and quality of personal service to be found in privately owned bookshops. A huge variety of events will be taking place across the UK. Some shops will be providing food for the stomach as well as the brain. The Book Hive in Norwich will be serving sake and sushi while Silverdell Books in Kirkham, Lancashire, which has its own ice-cream parlour, will be creating specific flavours for its visiting authors (previous favourites include Cox’s Special, created for Josephine Cox, and Tasty Terry, whipped up for Terry Wogan). Check out www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk for local details.

For the full article see telegraph.co.uk


Sunday 6 June 2010

Beauty Care Product Review: Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum

This week's beauty product review is the Kosmea Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum.


About Kosmea Skin Care Brands --- Kosmea took Australia by storm in 1993 when they launched the first 100% pure certified organic rosehip oil. Since then Kosmea have gone from strength to strength with a complete range of skin care based around organic rosehip oil.

Kosmea is different to most other skin care brands in that they mostly do not make products for particular skin types. Instead by layering different products you get a perfect result for every skin type. Another benefit of this layering approach means you can customise your skin care needs on a daily basis and there's no need to switch creams as the seasons change. Just choose the cleanser for your skin type then use the product layering approach for your own skin's requirement.

Kosmea was one of the first natural skin care brands to use patented anti-wrinkle technology in their Eighth Natural Wonder Revitalising Facial Serum. This serum features in all Kosmea skin care regimes.

My Thoughts:

It comes in a pump dispenser and just one push was enough for my face and neck. The serum is an unusual consistency, the only way I can describe it is gloopy! It spread easily and absorbed quickly with no sticky residue.

I then used my usual moisturiser on top which blended in okay with no problem, my skin can be quite greasy and I found that, at the end of the day, it wasn't as greasy as normal.

I used it night and morning - in the night I just used the serum with no extra moisturiser as Kosmea say "At night-time no extra moisturiser is needed for skin that feels wonderful the very next day."

Having used it regularly now for about two weeks I can see a slight difference in my skin tone, it looks quite healthy and does feel very soft. At first I did get a few spots, particularly around my jawline and chin but these quickly disappeared after a few days. I shall keep using it for the foreseeable future and see if it keeps the wrinkles away!

A 20ml bottle costs £25.00 - the 50ml bottle is £49.99 - available from www.mypure.co.uk.

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