Betrayals - Kelley Armstrong

Betrayals is book four of the Cainsville series which started with Omens. Omens are a big theme throughout the series and Liv has inherited the ability to read them, sometimes even seeing ones which others are unable to see at all. Liv's life was turned upside down by the revelation that she was adopted and that her birth parents are notorious serial killers. After leaving her adoptive family home to get away from everything, she ends up in Cainsville, where the town and its inhabitants are definitely not as innocent as they seem. Thrown into the world of the Fae she needs to use her instincts to protect herself from everyone who wants to use her. At the same time trying to prove her parents' innocence which she is not sure she can allow herself to believe.

On top of everything she discovers that she is a reincarnation of Matilda, part of an ancient myth. Her boyfriend Ricky and tentative friend Gabriel are also part of this myth and they all knew each other in many lives. Of course this adds many complications to her life. Oh, and she also gets visions...

Liv finds herself seeing the murder of a different type of fae, one that she has not come across before, the lamiae. They appear as young girls and are part of Greek myth rather than Celtic like the fae of Cainsville. Someone is killing the girls, as well as others who were aiding them. As she works at solving the case, she continues to learn more about her own situation.

I loved reading the book and found myself falling right back into Cainsville, however I didn't feel like we got much further in the overarching story of Liv and her parents. Now I am at the edge of my seat waiting for the fifth and final book of the series. I cannot wait to find out whether Liv will be able to solve the mystery of her parents and get them out of prison. What will happen between Liv, Ricky and Gabriel, and will she learn to manage her gifts and find her true place in the fae world.

I find it hard to remember a time before Kelley Armstrong was one of my favourite authors. I found Bitten, the first of the Women of the Otherworld series, in the library one day and zoomed through all the books they had in the series. When I realised there were more I ended up buying the whole series, even the ones I had already read. Ever since, I have been reading anything I can find from this author, including a number of YA trilogies. She also writes many short stories and often posts them for free on her website.

One of the main omens that Liv sees are ravens, they appear often all through the books. The Raven cocktail is dark and mysterious and looks very cool. I found it to be quite alcohol heavy so added a dash of lemon juice and a squeeze of syrup just to lighten it a little bit but it's worth trying both ways.

The traditional ingredients are a shot each of rum, vodka and blue curacao. If required, also add the syrup and lemon juice. Shake these with ice and then pour into a glass full of more ice. The trick is then to gently pour half a shot of Chambord so that it stays separate from the rest of the liquid. I found it sank to the bottom of the glass fairly easily, giving this lovely blending effect.

The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan

Laura has just started a new job looking after a beautiful house and it's delightful but mysterious owner.

Eunice has just started a new job at a publishing company, with a boss who she will fall madly in unrequited love with.

The book follows the separate but intertwining stories of Laura and Eunice, focusing mostly on Laura. It shows the similarites and paralells between the 2 strangers, even though their stories are separated by a period of time.

Laura loves everything about the house and Anthony, it's owner. Though she has never been allowed in one particular room, his study. Apart from the study, Laura has free rein, lovingly keeping the house in perfect shape and making sure Anthony is also well looked after. At the same time it seems the house looks after her, helping to heal her past hurts and giving her hope.

When Anthony leaves Laura the house, she finally finds out what was in the locked room. It is full of lost things he has found and collected over the years. The task of trying to return the contents to as many of the original owners as possible is left to Laura and it seems extremely daunting. Luckily she finds support in unexpected places and with the help of new friends Freddy and Sushine it no longer seems as impossible as before. However, not everyone is as helpful and they find that a curious presence seems to be hindering their efforts.

By the end, one of the peculiar findings in the study leads to the Laura and Eunice finally meeting and they both get back the most important things they've been searching for.

Interspersed in the book are little stories to go with the objects, though I was never really sure if the stories were just Anthony's inventions of if they were actually true. I think maybe the reader is supposed to be unsure, as the lines are slightly blurred later on in the book.

I'm recommending this to everyone, it's a wonderful book with some hints of the possibility of magic.

I decided to call my cocktail The Lovely Tea martini (Sunshine is always making the lovely cup of tea!). A lot of tea cocktails use Earl Grey or green tea but my favourite is English breakfast and this is what I imagine they would be drinking in the book. I do love Jasmine tea as well and you can substitute any kind of tea you prefer for different flavours.

I used tea in 2 ways to really get the flavour but you can skip the gin infusion if you prefer. If you do decide to do it, it will need to be prepared in advance. Put some gin in a jar with a tea bag and leave to infuse for at least an hour. Longer will give a stronger flavour.

The tea also needs to be made early but this is just so it has enough time to cool. I used a tea bag in just a small amount of hot water so it could get really strong. When everything is ready, put 1 & 1/2 shots of the tea infused gin, a shot of tea, 1/2 shot of lemon juice and a squeeze of sugar syrup into a shaker with some ice. Shake well and strain into your glass.

I must admit that while the colour is not the most beautiful cocktail I've ever made, it does actually resemble tea and tastes delicious. Obviously I wouldn't advise making a whole mug of this but I just couldn't resist serving it in this very appropriate Christmas present I received last year!

Disrepute

This post is a bit of a departure from my usual. I recently had the chance to try out Disrepute, a new cocktail bar in Soho. I know this is a bit of a stretch but the menu is made up of stories so I've decided that technically this is a good enough excuse to count it as a book review!

Instead of a typical menu, there are 3 pages of short stories to read. As the waitress explained to us, reading the stories can give you a clue to the type of drink and you can choose the one you're most drawn to. Will you go for the story of the Welder's Apprentice, the King of Carnaby, or do you want to find out what happened to the English Rose?

While some descriptions gave us a strong idea of possible ingredients, others left us quite confused. Luckily the answers are in the back of the book, in the form of a list of ingredients next to the initials of the cocktail. We found it fun to choose from the stories but then had a quick check at the back to see whether our guesses were anywhere near the truth. Generally they were not!

The bar is hidden away under Kingly court and is absolutely beautiful. Elegant with dark wood and plush, luxurious seating. Drinks cabinets are dotted around but unfortunately our key didn't fit the lock to open them up. We felt very chilled in our little corner, I think we definitely had the best seats in the place. The staff were very helpful and made us feel like the most important customers.

The cocktails we tried were delicious, with the Vintage Sour as my personal favourite. We definitely felt pretty cheerful after trying a couple and as my dear friend Gemma Chan so eloquently put it at the end of the night - 'The strongs are drink and the drink in the ice didn't help.'

Seven Black Diamonds - Melissa Marr

As with anything written by Melissa Marr, I couldn't wait to read this. Unfortunately there were some problems with my preorder and it took a bit longer than I would have liked but eventually it arrived and finally I got to read it! 

Seven Black Diamonds takes us back to Faerie, but this time it feels more grown up and much more dangerous than in the Wicked Lovely series (by the way, if you haven't read these yet, what on Earth are you waiting for???). Despite being teenagers, these characters are much more mature and much darker. This is probably due to the lives they have had to lead up until this point. As one of the Queen's sleeper cells in the human world, they have been forced to follow orders in her plan to destroy humankind for the damage they cause the Earth. 

However, it actually all started a long time ago and the real motivation is revenge. Many years ago the Queen was pregnant with her heir, the heir to the joint Seelie and Unseelie Kingdoms, but her baby drowned and the Queen killed all those she held responsible. This was not enough for her and she will not rest until all the humans are destroyed. 

Lily is the newest member of the Black Diamonds. Until now her criminal boss father has sheltered and protected her from her true fate, but when she is sent to a new school, she meets the others like her and finds out how much there is that she did not know about her life, her past and her family.

I am already very much looking forward to One Blood Ruby, the finale to this story. I liked that there was a conclusion of sorts at the end of this book, though there is definitely plenty more to come in the second book. In a way it's the best of both worlds, when I love a book I never want it to end and always look forward to sequels, but at the same time I hate being left hanging at the end!

For some reason Fairy books make me want purple drinks so I had to choose something containing creme de violette. The Stratosphere cocktail also incorporates Champagne which is one of my favourite things to drink.

Another very simple cocktail to make, pour one quarter shot of creme de violette into a flute glass and top up with Champagne. Finish by twisting some lemon peel over the drink for the zest, then discard the twist.

The colour of the cocktail I made was so subtle that I had to try and find the lightest background in my flat, but unfortunately is still barely shows in the photo. It probably depends on the brand of violette that you use, mine happens to be fairly pale. You will just have to trust me that in real life it's a very pretty colour! 

The One Memory of Flora Banks - Emily Barr

Flora is brave, though she needs a tattoo on her arm to tell her so. She can accomplish anything, though she needs to read it in her book to remember. She is 17, but she still feels 10 and would not remember if she didn't see her 17 year old face in the mirror.

Flora has had amnesia since she was 10 and can only remember things from before that time. Anything that happened after, she can only retain for a few hours at most... until she kisses a boy on the beach one evening and the next day she can still remember it! She is sure this is the answer she's been waiting for and she knows if she goes to find him she will be able to remember again. The only problem is that he has left for Svalbard but when she finds her hidden passport it seems like a sign that she is meant to do this and off she goes on an adventure across the world.

On her journey she will see wonderful things, meet new people and find out that she is truly amazing herself. And in the end, with the help of her friends, she will find that there is hope for her and that she is brave enough to go for it.

Flora's rules for life are actually great rules for anyone to live by, for example, 'Be brave', 'Don't panic' and 'Always try to get a window seat'. Though 'If you find a cat with no ears, you should take it home' may not be quite so relevant or useful in everyday life.

This is one of those books that gives you so many emotions and feelings that you want everyone to read it so you can talk about it. Flora's story is so touching, uplifting and inspiring. It is written is such a way that you can feel Flora's confusion and the misplacement in time when she realises she is somewhere but doesn't really know how she got there. It is almost like waking from a dream every time. Definitely one of my favourite books in a long time.

Now for the book-inspired beverage. This is a bit of a departure on my usual suggestions as it is not really a cocktail, but the shandy really is made for Flora's story. In a way it encompasses Flora's two sides. When she's being rebellious, strong and brave, she always drinks beer. But when she's trying to be a good girl and behave as her mum wants her to, it is lemonade that she chooses.

This is probably one of the easiest drinks to make and can be done to your own personal taste. The basic recipe is simply half a glass of beer, topped up with lemonade. However, feel free to adjust the measurements if you're feeling rebellious!