LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Members Giveaway: The School with Chocolate Air by Jenifer Rubloff

I received this book in the Member Giveaway and started reading it today. I couldn't make it past the first six pages as it was absolutely bad. Sorry Jenifer but this book needs some work. The story is poorly written from the start and you need to win your reader over from the first word. I expected a book written in the vein of Matilda or Madeline where a poor orphan girl goes to a girls' boarding school and wins the hearts of everyone (I don't know if that is what this book is about because I didn't get very far). I expected a whimsical yet poignant coming of age tale, etc judging by the title (we do still judge books by their covers). Whether it is that I now will never know. Sorry Jenifer, better luck next time.

LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Members Giveaway: Ten Kinds of Trouble by Ian Ashe

The stories were mostly about violent crime and involved death and in some cases a fair amount of gore. It might seem as if violence is the only theme running through the stories but there is another theme. Many of the main characters were people who were dragged into the violent crimes they are portrayed as committing against their will. What I liked most was the fact that the stories were short and were easy to read. The characterisation for some of the stories was a little sketchy and in some cases the plot seemed a little contrived but there were instances of brilliance and many times I was impressed by what I was reading. My favourite story of the batch was "A Night Without Mercy". The entire story is told in the form of calls to 911 and it is a very interesting method used.

All in I would give the book a 5/10