Lisa Heathfield

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY: Books with “Hard” Topics

Top 5 Wednesday is a great feature created by GingerReadsLainey and hosted by ThoughtsonTomes. To find out more about Top 5 Wednesday and the upcoming topics, check out its Goodreads page. This weeks it’s all about hard topics which could mean books about mental health, sexual assault, terminal illness or other books you found tough to read.

FullSizeRender (96)The Hounding of David Oluwale – Kester Aspden
This is the true story about how the police didn’t bother to look into the death of David Olwale, a homeless immigrant from Nigeria and a former patient in a mental hospital, until eighteen months later when a lengthy campaign of harassment by two high-ranking policeman was uncovered. This is one of those true stories that are tough to read and it shows how racism and police discrimination has been around for decades and while some stuff has changed, it is not enough.

lost boi elenasquareeyesLost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey
This is a retelling of Peter Pan that really isn’t child-friendly. There’s a lot of BDSM elements but the view of it is still incredibly childlike it’s a little disturbing. It is a good book full of queer characters but it’s definitely full of hard topics including drug use.

 

everydaysexismEveryday Sexism by Laura Bates
This is a non-fiction book full of true stories and statistics about everyday sexism. It encompasses many things, school life, discrimination at work, street harassment and more. It’s a fascinating book but it’s tough to read sometimes because you can’t help but get frustrated by society’s gender expectations that fall on both men and women, and how women are discriminated against every day, even if it’s just small macroaggressions that many people have just learnt to ignore.

illustrted mumThe Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson
This features two sisters whose mother has bipolar and how difficult it is living with her but they still love her. It’s great at showing how you might still love your mum but you might not always like them.

 

 

FullSizeRender (78)Seed by Lisa Heathfield
Seed is often an uncomfortable book to read. There’s no two ways about it, Seed is a cult. As a reader you can see the signs but to fifteen year old Pearl, everything is normal and how it should be. It’s also a hard book to read because while nothing is explicit, sexual abuse of children is implied throughout and it’s a slow build for some of the characters to realise or react to what’s happening.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books I’ve Read This Year So Far

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. As we are now half way through the year (how has that happened?!) today’s Top Ten Tuesday is the ten best books you’ve read so far this year. If I’ve reviewed the book mentioned, its title will go to my review where you can see me gush even more about it.

The Martian by Andy WeirFullSizeRender (75)
I loved the humour in this book. Mark Watney has such a realistic voice, I can image him being on Mars and being like “Well now what? Guess I’ll grow some potatoes.” All the characters were interesting and flawed and the story was gripping and funny. I cannot wait for the film adaptation – it’s probably one of the films I’m most looking forward to this year.

FullSizeRender (90)Doubletake by Rob Thurman
It was great to return to the Cal Leandros series after so long. Robin Goodfellow was still his usual self – though a little on edge due to family stuff and it was nice to learn more about Nico’s side of the family. I’ve still got more books in this series to catch up on which I’m looking forward to doing.

Secret Avengers by Ales Kot and Michael WalshFullSizeRender (57)
Secret Avengers is a lot of fun. The characters are great, the story’s exciting and fun, and the art is wonderful. If you’re not sure where to start with Marvel comics – give Secret Avengers a go. (more…)

REVIEW: Seed by Lisa Heathfield

FullSizeRender (78)Seed is Pearl’s home. It’s all she’s ever known and it’s perfect. Papa S. leads them so they can worship and live how Nature intended. But everything is not as it seems at Seed and when Ellis arrives from the Outside, Pearl begins to question everything she’s ever known.

Seed is often an uncomfortable book to read. There’s no two ways about it, Seed is a cult. As a reader you can see the signs but to fifteen year old Pearl, everything is normal and how it should be. The book opens with Pearl being forced to spend the night underground as she “has become a woman” it’s shocking and immediately throws you into the world and rules of Seed. Pearl’s faith in Papa S. and life in Seed is often frustrating but believable and it does make you think about how society and small communities function.

Ellis is the most relatable of the characters as he’s like the reader, he’s from the Outside and can see things differently from Pearl whose known nothing different to life at Seed. His anger at Pearl for not knowing or realising what’s going on is understandable but also frustrating, as how can she believe that her entire life is a lie.

There are a lot of dark themes in Seed. Nothing is explicit but sexual abuse of children is implied throughout and it’s a slow build for some of the characters to realise or react to what’s happening. Papa S. abuses all the people in Seed one way or another and instilled fear into all of them.

The ending is a bit rushed but that makes it no less shocking and tense. Pearl and Ellis are both interesting and flawed characters and the story is a compelling yet uncomfortable read. 4/5.