Your mind just can’t believe it

WAKE-UP CALL

The Wake-Up Series

by

Amy Avanzino

A disturbing but also fun book which really tells life as it is as a mother of under 5s.
Yes, your house will smell of poop as the nappy bucket needs to be emptied or the kids have accidents, and yes, they will follow you everywhere even into the loo and yes, little boys will try and pee into the bowl whilst you are still using it.
A story that is clearly drawn from real life experiences whether of the author herself, or her friends and family with small children.
But what must it be like to experience that chaos and smells all at once without it gradually creeping up on you? That slim, svelte, toned body you worked so hard for before you had kids, is no longer there – overnight, literally, it appears to have vanished when amnesia kicks in and the years of child birth and early rearing are lost to you. You are now the mother who turns up for the school run in PJs before her shower.

When Sunday mornings are no longer for lie-ins and reading the paper over coffee, leisurely then making your way to brunch with friends. Now mornings tend to arrive at the crack of dawn – 9.15am with our grand-kids is when the small voice says in our ears ‘Read me a story, Nana’.

So a thoroughly enjoyable light story but a fourth child? I know the author has 4 but I bring you the warning of my GP when I was expecting my 2nd – she had 3 boys and wanted a girl – so she got twin boys!

The Ick Factor

Sky High

By

Susan O’Brien

A NetGalley Review

C Difficile where the ‘ick’ factor is the latest cure is a major theme of this book.

CDiff is a very difficult virus to remove from anyone’s system – worse than Norovirus. It is known as a killer in those who are in hospital – a prime place to catch it, and those with compromised immune systems.

Now I am learning about Norovirus from personal experience as it has been with me now for nearly 3 months and is improving but prone to ‘flash backs’. [much longer than the medical tests say it can last but with a compromised system ,like my own..]. So I certainly would not want CDiff but one of the central characters in this story about the Sky Investigative Agency and its owner, does have this disease and the story features much discussion of how it can be cured.

So just what is this ‘ick’ factor? Well it is a poo transplant – yes, you got it, faecal matter is injected into the body from a healthy person.

Our NHS says: This involves a sample of faeces being taken from a healthy donor and placed into the colon of someone with a C. difficile infection using a catheter. Alternatively, it may be placed using a thin tube through the nose into the small bowel below the stomach.

The donated sample restores the normal balance of bacteria inside your digestive system with that from the healthy donor.

While this may sound unpleasant, the treatment does have very good results, with a success rate of more than 90%, and is probably the best treatment currently available.

 

Personally, I’ve been treating my norovirus with acidophilus and it does seem to have a similar effect.

Apart from the nicely accurate medical condition which provides a nice background story, I liked the whole book.

It was gentle, it had fun bits and I just loved ‘Super Teddy’ and the photos of him and could just imagine that happening  for a fretful child. I also had not heard of a Norwich Terrier, though looking them up I had seen them about and coveted them – such friendly lively dogs.

I also empathised with the narrator as a vegetarian in the US. Being one myself, I have had some interesting experiences – 1. Where a waiter empathised with me, exclaiming, ‘I so agree! Isn’t chicken wonderful and so much better for you!’; and also 2. at a conference where at the formal dinner I was offered a plate of fruit as my main dish.. I got hungry quite quickly afterwards.

And finally, I am waiting for my gym to offer pole dancing lessons just to see who turns up! And what they wear!

So was the storyline good? I enjoyed it – I liked the style and it kept moving along with some nice twists and turns. It is not a complicated and deep, dark  PI story, but one to feel cosy with and to empathise with the narrator as she manages her life as a single mum with 2 kids and a business to run.

 

 

Ashes goodbye!

FIVE: Out of the Ashes
Holli Anderson
(Five, #3)
Published by: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication date: November 30th 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Their last battle ended with death and despair, but they have no time to mourn. One of their own has been taken and the Quinae Praesidia set out to find and rescue her. In this third and last installment of the FIVE series, the FIVE discover new powers, make a desperate run through the Netherworld, land on an island paradise . . . and find that Brone, always a step ahead of them, is becoming more powerful than ever.

Previous books in the series:

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Author Bio:

Holli Anderson has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing–which has nothing to do with writing, except maybe by adding some pretty descriptive injury and vomit scenes to her books. She discovered her joy of writing during a very trying period in her life when escaping into make-believe saved her. She enjoys reading any book she gets her hands on, but has a particular love for anything fantasy.

Along with her husband, Steve, and their four sons, she lives in Grantsville, Utah–the same small town in which she grew up.

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