Grigory Ryzhakov

This was such good fun! I absolutely adored the chapters being named after plants and fruits including their botanical (latin) names. It was so clever how these plants or fruits were then weaved into the relevant chapter. It shows how well thought out this book was.

I laughed out loud on so many occasions and felt the need to read excerpts out to whichever lucky person was sitting in the room with me! Chloe is an instantly likeable character, living the single life and not necessarily looking for love when, like the number 9 bus, two men come along at once. She can't decide between the two so she dates both of them, and whilst I don't condone this I can understand the confusion on the dating scene. She's ultimately looking to settle down with someone, she is 22...er...25...er actually 28 after all. So professional, respectable Terrence seems like a good choice over fun, flirty Blake. Will Terrence turn out to be Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong? That's what I was asking myself throughout the book, so I had to keep reading into the early hours to find out!

I really enjoyed the way that Grigory Ryzhakov has written this book. His humour shines out of every page and I found myself laughing,smiling and cursing dastardly men throughout the book. I notice on Amazon that this is Girl Scientist Book 1 - so I'll be looking out for book 2. Hopefully we will hear more of Chloe's escapades and find out if she ended up with Mr. Right after all.

I received this book from the author via a Goodreads Giveaway.… (mehr)

I won this copy through GoodReads First Reads giveaways.

Made in Bionia is a dystopian thriller with a hint of sci-fi. Tackling what could possibly end up a true life scenario, we find the protagonist, William Carrot trying to save the world's oceans from dying.

Ryzhakov gives the reader a strong plot and the story flows fluidly (although it does get bogged down in scientific jargon) however, characterization is a problem. I felt Carrot ended up as a minor character when he obviously wasn't. Hinted as being the best there was at his profession, Ryzhakov failed to give the reader the backup necessary to prove these claims. The author also tries to create a romance between Carrot and Welka but it fails in its' credibility. Of the two characters, Welka does come out as the stronger one.

The questions of who is William Carrot and why does Rasa A want him dead, is never answered. (I could not determine which character was from Rasa A in the novel.) This lack of closure obviously is leading to a sequel.

It was an okay novel. I do give points for the author's play on names of countries. That was almost the most interesting part, trying to match the names with today's countries.… (mehr)