REVIEW - THE NAMES BY FLORENCE KNAPP

  

Title: The Names
Author: Florence Knapp
Publisher: Phoenix Books, Orion Books
Genre: General Fiction, Literary Fiction
Release Date: 6th May 2025

BLURB
Tomorrow - if morning comes, if the storm stops raging - Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalise who he will become.

It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the boy after him. But faced with the decision, Cora hesitates, questioning whether it is right for her child to share his name with generations of domineering men. Her choice in this moment will shape the course of their lives.

Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerges. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will give him the opportunity to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his image - but is there still a chance to break the mould?

This is the story of three names, three versions of a life and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family and how love endures, no matter what fate has in store.

Goodreads Link 

REVIEW
There are two different covers for this book, though I do like both, the one I have featured above is the one that represents the book really well. The figure at the centre that could easily be Cora or her son and the three shadows for the three different names and the three different ways life could go dependent upon Cora's choice at the registrars office when giving her baby son his name. The cover is quite stark and harsh feeling which I think depicts the hard decision and harsh consequences Cora faces dependant on the choice she makes.

Three different names, Bear, Julian & Gordon. Bear is 9-year-old sister Maia's choice, Julian, Mum Cora's choice, & and Gordon, "chosen/imposed" by dad Gordon & his family, a tradition that isn't open to discussion and  has to be upheld!
Three choices each with consequences, what happens in each different scenario of name is chosen.
Bear - the name chosen by 9 year old Maia who likens the soft cuddly qualities of a bear to her snuggly baby brother and her expectation he will become big and brave.

Cora knows she is taking a big chance disobeying her husband and the expectation of his family that, of course, there's no question their son will be called Gordon. Cora also knows that deep down, there will be a price to pay. She prepares by having friend Mehri take Maia swimming with her own daughter Fern. When Mehri offers to keep Maia for tea, Cora immediately accepts knowing it gives her time to tell Gordon and deal with any fallout before Maia arrives home. Cora hides Bear, her precious baby in a cupboard upstairs and prepares to tell Gordon the news. She greets him at the door, takes his coat, kisses him on the cheek as is expected of her all the while dreading what is to come.
When Cora reveals the name Bear, at first Gordon seems to think it's a joke and he smiles....then the anger explodes & the violence begins which continues until finally Cora shouts for help, which leads to the death of a bystander but freedom for Cora, Maia who has witnessed the abuse as she has grown up and the baby brother she named Bear.
Gordon is sent to prison, and Cora tries to build a new, happier life for herself and her children with support from friends Mehri & Roland. Cora is never truly free of guilt that her freedom came at the cost of another man's life and every year lays flowers on his grave thanking him for his intervention that day. It's only years later that Bear puts two and two together and realises this strangers death is connected to him and his name.
Julian - is the name chosen by Cora, meaning 'sky father', so in Cora's heart & mind still honouring his father Gordon without giving him the exact same name. Maia is excited as her name means mother, and her brothers name means father. It's another bond they will share.
Cora cooks Gordon's favourite meal, Maia helps set and decorate the table. When the name is revealed Maia chatters excitedly about it meaning sky father, trying to distract her father from the brewing anger. Gordon sends Maia off to run a bath, leaving him alone with Cora. Gordon is immediately abusive towards Cora and aggressively pushes her face into her half eaten meal, telling Cora he won't be letting this go. Cora silently says to herself this will be the last time knowing further violence is on the immediate horizon.
Seven years later, after being registered as Julian, he, along with his sister Maia, are living a new life with their maternal grandmother, Silbhe, in Ireland.
Further details of what happened that night, seven years before, are not revealed. Maia does discuss that she remembers hearing everything as she had covered Bears' ears, so he did so had no hands to cover her own ears.

Gordon - the name imposed, demanded and expected by Gordon and his family leaves Cora so disappointed in herself & resentful that she just went along with a name she didn't want, she finds it difficult to bond with baby Gordon. She finds it difficult in many ways and
her husband Gordon uses these 'failings' and 'neglectful acts' as a weapon within his abuse, and he threatens to take the children away from her! So  despite choosing the name Gordon, the one her husband and his family wanted, Cora still suffers violence & abuse. Even when Maia reaches out to her maternal grandmother, Silbhe in Ireland Cora refuses to leave, knowing in her heart that Gordon wouldn't hesitate to take her children from her and deny her any contact with them. Which would mean leaving them at the mercy of an abusive man.

There's so much more to the book than the sections I have shared, each of the three names/lives/directions have their own positives and negatives.

I felt instant empathy with Cora, the descriptions of the familiar feelings of walking on eggshells. The overwhelming urge of wanting to keep the peace and please someone who will never be satifisedno matter how much you give or do for them. The instinct and protectiveness of moving your child to another room doing an activity meaning they hopefully won't hear and witness their fathers' outbursts. Then finally getting out, trying to rebuild a life but at the same time never being able to trust another man fully, wondering what their trigger would be to aggression, anger and violence.

I loved Maia's character, a second mum to her baby brother, and a peacemaker, pacifier, whenever possible. Sadly you don't realise how much Maia was aware of until later in the book as she grows older.

Then there's Bear, soft, cuddly, brave, and strong, or Julian 'Sky Father' or Gordon expected to follow in his father's and grandfathers footsteps. Whichever name Cora's baby boy is given, he may have elements of both parents, but it doesn't mean he has to or will become like his abusive father. He is also 'nurtured' and experiences life in different ways in different scenarios.

Although the book depicts a relationship that has domestic violence, there's also loving, caring, and romantic relationships within the book.

The book shows three alternating versions of the characters' lives covering thirty-five years. Each version of life presents its own version of healing, life going on despite the scars and shadows caused by domestic violence, and that ever present feeling that your abuser is 'out there' and could reappear in your life any time he feels like it.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing reading The Names was that though it brought back my own memories of domestic violence i enjoyed reading it, found it thought provoking, and I hope it raises awareness of 'what goes on behind closed doors' and gives those that are quick to say 'Why doesn't she just leave' something to think about.

Summing up this book is about the choices we make and the different paths we take and what they lead us to in the future, but the book is also a totally honest depiction of Domestic Violence and why it's not as simple as just leaving the situation, especially when children are involved and the abuser a well respected member of the community"

 THE OTHER COVER 

This cover also fits the book well in that in one of the three versions of life Cora
loves gardening and nurturing her garden. The three flowers also representing
the three different versions of the characters lives. This cover leans more to the 

poetic & poignant feelings of the book and is visually softer and more delicate.

 

Which of the covers is your favourite or like me, do you like them both for their different qualities 

and for different reasons?

 

 

REVIEW - AFTER TASTE BY DARIA LAVELLE

 

Title: After Taste

Author: Daria Lavelle

Publisher: Bloomsbury UK & ANZ

Release Date: 22nd May 2025

 

BLURB 

Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.

Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.

Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.

Lavelle’s debut is a multi-course tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.

 

Goodreads Link 

 

REVIEW
I’ve seen two different covers for this book and have to say I love them both! Though if I absolutely had to choose between them, I think it would be the darker cover with the salt cascading down into the ghostly blue/green essence. I think the byline on this book is what makes me favour it slightly more over the other one too!

I was lucky enough to read a sampler of this book and lets just say a taster was not enough (pardon the pun). I do find the afterlife and all the different ways we can communicate with those there a fascinating subject. After discovering Kostya’s gift was “clairgustance” (which I had never heard of before) I was totally intrigued and knew I needed to read this book to learn more and discover Kostya’s story.

We initially meet the main character, Konstantin Duchovny or Kostya as his friends later call him. Kostya deeply regrets the last angry words he had with his father who was rushing to get to work and ended up being involved in an accident and was killed. Kostya has never forgiven himself for those last angry words and always yearned for a chance to apologise to his father. Sadly, after the death of Kostya’s father, his mother is consumed by the loss & grief and pays very little attention to an increasingly lonely young son, who already feels isolated due to being in a country with a language and customs still foreign to him.
When a game he used to play with his father suddenly evolves and reappears back in his life, he isn't sure what to think. He can suddenly taste emotions and a food/meal without ever having eaten it. It makes him feel closer to his father again so of course he embraces it. It takes away some of the feelings of loneliness he is having and reminds him of the happy memories he had with his father. He tries to explain it to his mother, wanting and expecting reassurance and loving understanding from her. Instead, he is taken to doctors who poke, prod, and medicate him, and send him to an institution for more poking and prodding. When Kostya cannot stand it any longer, he simply agrees with those thinking he made it all up for attention and is finally sent back home to live out an increasingly lonely existence still yearning for attention from his mother and a way to make peace with his last angry words with his father.

As Kostya grows up he continues having these “tastes” they are clearly here to stay and not something he is making up. Kostya experiments with the encouragement of his best friend and flatmate Frankie. Kostya’s “talent” is however hit and miss it does not always work for everyone that seeks the type of closure it offers. Kostya later realises that both sides need to want to meet for the aftertaste experience to work. Despite being warned off by tarot card reader Madame Everleigh aka Maura, who is someone with her own secrets, Kostya continues his experimentation with communicating with those in the afterlife via food/tastes.

Kostya has some interesting instances of communicating via tastes initially in a bar he is working in when he connects a Steve Tyler look-a-like to a woman in his past, to when he connects two nuns in his own small kitchen in the flat, he shares with Frankie who is himself a talented chef at a local restaurant called Wolfpup. Unfortunately, there’s a fire at Wolfpup and Frankie is killed. Once again, Kostya is experiencing grief, this time of a close friend whom had become like family to him.

Its then that Madame Everleigh/Maura comes back into his life and shares her own secrets and her grief for her sister Everleigh. Basically, they support each other, they become each others world really, each encouraging the other to continue to live and not dwell on the past so much.

Just when Kostya is about to give up on his dream of a restaurant where he could serve closure as well as amazing tasting food, an unexpected offer arrives from Viktor Musizchka. Viktor will provide the premises, with a kitchen fitted out to Kostya’s specifications, Kostya can also choose his own kitchen team. Once again, Kostya ignores advice, this time it’s his mother who tells Kostya that Viktor Musizchka is in the mob and a dangerous man.

Kostya recreates a last taste/last conversation for Maura and her sister Everleigh though Maura insists on being alone for the experience and refuses to talk about it afterwards with Kostya. It turns out that Madame Everleigh/Maura’s warning that there is always a price to be paid for connecting to the other side is correct. Despite Maura & Kostya trying to put things right on one side of the afterlife and Everleigh & Frankie trying on the afterlife side when nothing they do works and the ultimate price has to be paid Kostya bravely accepts his fate.

I loved Kostya’s character it was such a shame his own mother wasn’t able to put her own grief aside to listen to her own son and maybe somehow help him nurture his talent. Kostya certainly had his heart in the right place, even when he had the restaurant, he insisted in doing meals and chances at a meal/ conversation with a loved one for those who could not afford the eye watering prices Viktor wanted to charge everyone. What started out as a need to reconnect this dead father has grown into a career, a very lucrative business according to Viktor, though Kostya still concentrates on helping others reconnect to dead friends & family. Enabling closure for those here & in the afterlife.

I had mixed feeling about Maura, you’ll understand why when you read the book. I was interested in her as a tarot reader and why she became Madame Everleigh but when she makes her confession to Kostya I kind of lost respect for her. Then again, I still couldn’t help liking her.

The book really takes you on wave of different emotions, there is humour, but it does deal with grief and what entails, what it feels like for different people. It really deals with grief well, openly and honestly. I it was the serious subject matter that made me seem to read at a slower pace than usual. I kind of read a bit, thought about it, then read more. It’s the type of book that really makes you think.

The descriptions in the book are brilliant, I loved the comparison of something being “like carving a roast.” I have to admit I wasn’t initially keen on the famous Steven Tyler reference with Charlie, I don't think it was really needed though I guess having his first aftertaste with a famous person look-a-like added more interest and imagery. There’s lots of foods, herbs, and ingredients mentioned that I felt went totally over my head, though “foodies” will probably recognise them and see more relevance than I did. Having said that, I did still enjoy reading the detailed descriptions of the different tastes Kostya was getting, the way he detailed the flavours, different foods/ingredients and the seasonings. It made me feel a little guilty not being able to fully appreciate those descriptions and how Kostya pulled the meal together to recreate not just a meal but that persons specific tast and experience of that meal that they had previously eaten with their loved one.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were that it was interesting, intriguing, had a captivating plot, great world building & characters you grew to love. It was a shame there was no “riding off into the sunset” for Kostya and Maura.

Summing up, I was intrigued and loved the clairgustance aspect and really enjoyed reading those sections. I have mixed feelings & emotions about the ending, though when you think a little & have time to 'digest' the book, the ending was quite fitting & poignant. This book was definitely captivating and deeply emotional......depending on your beliefs, very emotive. I know for sure that I would have been extremely tempted by an offer from Kostya for one last meal/conversation with my parents.
 

 The other version of the book cover

 

 

BLOG TOUR - HEART OF THE SUN BY MIA SHERIDAN

  

From mega-bestseller and TikTok sensation Mia Sheridan, an all-new epic, angsty second-chance romance with an unexpected and gritty speculative twist; think:
Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After meets Station Eleven.

 

Title: Heart Of The Sun

Author: Mia Sheridan

Publisher: Canary Street Press

Release Date: 20th May 2025

 

BLURB
Tuck and Emily grew up together in their neighboring California orange groves and nearly gave their hearts to each other, but life pulled them apart and set them on very different paths. Now, 13 years later, stubborn, sunny Emily is a pop star and brooding Tuck is an ex-con in need of a job. When Emily hires him to be her bodyguard, they naturally butt heads, even as both try to ignore the heat rekindling between them.

When a massive solar flare hits Earth, knocking out the electrical grid and all satellites, the world changes forever instantly. Tuck and Emily are forced to come together to fight for their lives and find a new place in this post-apocalyptic world—one where everything Emily has worked so hard for has crumbled, but also one where Tuck can start over and maybe even thrive.

Heart of the Sun is a bullseye Mia Sheridan new adult romance with a post-apocalyptic backdrop that tests the characters to be their better selves.

PURCHASE LINKS
HarperCollins page
BookShop.org
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

MIA SHERIDAN is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal best-selling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven. 

AUTHOR LINKS
Author Website

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

X/Twitter

 

EXCERPT 

prologue

Tuck

  

Now

Holy shit. What the hell is happening?

Cold sweat broke out across my back as the lights inside the small, chartered plane blinked off and the engine went quiet. I could hear the pilot, Russell, behind the curtain to the cockpit, speaking into the radio with what sounded like growing alarm. I rose from my seat and took a few unsteady steps to the cockpit doorway where I slid the curtain open to see Russell furiously pushing buttons and moving dials. I grabbed the wall to hold myself steady as the plane bumped and jerked, sudden flares of lightning pulsing through the darkened cabin.

“What’s going on?” I asked, voice as shaky as the rest of me.

“The engines and the navigation equipment went down,” Russell said. “Air traffic control cut out and I can’t get them back on the line.”

My heart dipped along with the plane, and I heard a small squeal of fear from behind me where Emily and Charlie were sitting. “Isn’t there a backup system?”

“That’s out too! Copy! Copy!” he called into his headpiece, but again there was no reply. “Shit.”

I ignored Emily’s quiet cries; there was nothing I could do. I had no idea what the hell was going on, and my own fear was mounting as the plane made another small drop. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Russell’s cheek, punctuating the fact that he was panicked as well.

“Sit down and buckle up. I’ll use the manual controls,” he said, obviously trying to insert a note of confidence in his tone. “We can still glide, but I’ll need to get us down quickly. Brace for impact.”

My heart was racing as I turned back toward my seat. “What’s happening?” Emily asked, eyes wide with fear.

“Something knocked out the engine and navigation system and air traffic control isn’t answering,” I said, my eyes sweeping over her to verify she was buckled in. “He says to brace for impact.” I glanced out the window. The sky had dimmed, and I could see zigzags of lightning in the distance. An unexpected electric storm?

Emily looked straight ahead, grasping the armrests as the plane gave a groaning shiver.

I sat down and buckled myself in just as the plane dipped and then dipped again, my stomach rising and falling quickly as a small piece of luggage went flying past my face. Then the plane took on a bumpy flight pattern and strange milky clouds streaked past my window, splintered by a spidery bolt of white lightning right next to us.

I could hear the muted blast of the wind outside, highlighting the dead silence of the engine.

Brace for impact, the pilot had said. But I didn’t know how to do that other than sitting still and silent, terror pounding through my body.

We plunged yet again, the force jolting and lifting me and causing the seat belt to bite harshly into my hips. For a minute I was afraid the belt would break against the immense pressure. When I turned my eyes toward Emily, she was still gripping the armrests, her face ashen, eyes clenched tight. Next to her, Charlie had his eyes squeezed shut as well and looked to be hyperventilating. The plane began to shake, making a long, shrieking sound as though it was at risk of being torn apart by the rapid descent. My heart slammed, the hair rising on my nape and arms.

Just get us on the ground, Russell. Please get us on the ground.

We bumped and shook and for a moment, the sky went even darker, then seemed to split. The plane lowered again and this time didn’t straighten out for several long seconds. My breath lodged in my throat. The aircraft straightened, and as the nose rose, the sky parted once more, and I glimpsed the ground. It was red and fiery, smoke billowing everywhere. I swallowed heavily, the bony fingers of terror gripping my lungs.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my breath, conjuring the one place on earth that had always brought peace to my soul. I was a child again, the air tinged with the scent of orange blossoms. I lifted my face to feel the kiss of dry heat upon my skin and listened for the ringing echo of my mother’s laugh.

“Tuck.” Her voice. Emily. Not who she’d later come to be, the woman she was now, but the girl she once was. The one I’d loved. “Tuck.” That whisper again, my name floating over her shoulder as she ran through the groves of my memory, dirty knees and tangled hair, her quickened breath interrupted by bursts of giggles, spirit as radiant as the California sunshine. Another dip, another swerve, my memories dissolving in the surge of adrenaline shooting through my veins. My eyes shot open, and I leaned forward, watching helplessly out the window as we descended straight into hell.

Excerpted from HEART OF THE SUN by Mia Sheridan. Copyright © 2025 by Mia Sheridan. Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.