Sounds gross right? Well it pretty much is - it is also marvellous and stuffed full with villainy. This story is told by 5 different people, aristocrats Marcella and Minguillo Fasan, medical assistant doctor Santo, Peruvian nun Lor Soreto and manservant Gianni. Michelle Lovric stitches her book together with these five strands and by doing so she sculptures a 3D story that can be approached by every angle. Only releasing information in  teasing snippets, she leaves the reader willing her to reveal more.

Marcella is a our damsel in distress whilst her brother, Minguillo attempts to bury the key and keep her dead to world. Enter Doctor Santo, a knight in shining armour who dwells in poverty and falls for our damsel. Can love overcome everything, or is Minguillo Fasan too powerful and deceitful? Selling his sister to an asylum and then a convent, Minguillo thinks he is set to inherit his father's estate...but Marcella has a few friends, and they've got a few plans of their own...

 I found myself galloping through the book much quicker than I had Grace William Says It Loud - I suspect this is because the text is much more flirtatious and diverts your attention to a detached history - whereas Grace Williams was a bit harder to digest as it was so horrific.

Similar to Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine the circular structure of the narrative lends itself to the fickle reader as passages are short and sharp, startling and seductive. Lovric's writing effortlessly switches voices keeping both the story and the reader connected as you move through the Venetian canals and board a ship to the exotic mountains of Peru.

This is a great commuter book, the chapters are in bite-size chunks so you've got time to chomp on a few chapters before you need to hop off the train.

I'm giving this book a 8/10, it is repulsively seductive and unnaturally charming. You might want to take a closer look at those leather-binded books on your shelf though...

The Man in the Moon by William Joyce looks to be one of the most exciting children's books I have seen in a while. It has yet to be released in Canada (and I presume America) so it might take a while to get over here but as soon as it does I will definitely be snapping it up! Publishers Simon & Schuster released a few sneaky excerpts on their Facebook feed today and I was completely mesmerised by the illustrations. Have a flick through here and see what you think. It looks pretty pricey but I'm sure it will, for many children, be a book that is treasured for many years.

Another book that has grabbed my attention is FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith, published by Templar. The artwork is just magical as Grahame marries photographic collages and illustration. I'm hoping to get his book later this week so I will let you all know what I think of the storyline as soon as I can! For now though have a look at some of these gorgeous pictures from the very talented
Mr Grahame Baker-Smith  .

Being an unusually hot week in London, I decided it was too hot to carry a book, so leapt back into the cooling Kindle lagoon. Not only was I pleasantly surprised that after reading three of her books, I still enjoyed Trisha's 'chick lit' but I also found it a slight relief, as the other books I am reading recently seem to be of a darker nature.

Time and time again I have found myself drawn back to Trisha's cosy countryside characters, with their romances and the odd historical lesson or Shakespearian reference thrown in for good measure. It lets you drift and doesn't demand a great deal of concentration or commitment. You can pop back to Sticklepond village any-time you like and find familiar faces in both The Falling Star and The Green Man pub. I love how Trisha's characters subtly overlap so that names ring bells as though they are somehow a past neighbour or an old friend. An even better aspect to this is of course by reading on the Kindle you a free to search previous books, so if like me it irritates you when you can't place a name or remember who is who, you can simply type it in and voila! The lovely Kindle tells you exactly where you read it first and where else it is likely to crop up. Unfortunately the downside to this is that you occasionally come across spoilers as it does drag up all the places the word appears so you can find yourself reading ahead of your current place.

In this book you meet Chloe Lyons who runs a chocolate business, her aunty and granddad are pagans and her ex-lover / rock star has now become the village vicar. She has raised her little brother (now an 18 year old Goth) as her mum has ditched her for a life of partying. Old flames of course return  but can love be rekindled? Can Paganism and Christianity see eye to eye or is there going to be trouble in rural Sticklepond? This is funny romance packed with countryside comforts. What more could you possibly need from a 'laze with a glass of wine' book?

This is once again a feel-good book from Trisha Ashley and I feel thoroughly refreshed from my swim in the Kindle Lagoon!