Rachel Ward (1)Recensioni

amateur-sleuth, British-humor, cozy-mystery, England, falsely-accused, family-dynamics, friends, friendship, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, read, series, situational-humor, soap-opera, social-injustice, verbal-humor, village****

The teenager shouldn't have been murdered, but the store employee who chased him and THOUGHT he was doing the right thing was NOT responsible regardless of what the angry mob/riot made of it here in Bristol/Somerset. The staff of the supermarket want to help by finding out who DID do the deed and WHY, but The Royals are coming to THEIR store, and everyone is all atwitter! Fine read!
I requested and received an EARC from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
#SupermarketMysteries4

available in audio
ending was not fully developed, probably to save for the sequel

I think from the blurb, I was expecting more of a paranormal theme for this book and because that is basically non-existent, I found it meh. Growing up, doing it tough blah, blah, blah.

Adam ha heredado el don de su madre, Jem: cuando mira a alguien a los ojos puede ver la fecha en que la persona morirá. Para él, este poder también es una carga, que le angustia en las relaciones con los demás. Sarah, una adolescente de Londres, tiene que huir de su casa y empezar una vida nueva, sola. Cada noche tiene la misma pesadilla que la atormenta: un incendio, una catástrofe y un misterioso chico al que reconoce en el instituto. Las cosas cada vez se van poniendo más difíciles: el mundo tiende al caos, las autoridades insertan a las personas chips de identificación, violentas inundaciones obligan a evacuar pueblos enteros. Un día, Adam ve que la mayoría de la gente de la ciudad tiene la misma fecha: enero de 2027. Algo va a suceder. Algo muy malo. Pero, ¿qué? ¿Qué puede hacer él?

Año 2029, post-caos. La civilización tal y como la conocemos ya no existe. Las ciudades están llenas de forajidos, y las comodidades de la vida moderna, como la electricidad o las líneas telefónicas, son un lejano recuerdo.
Ahora, Adam, Sarah y Mia sobreviven en el bosque, lejos de la gente, lejos del peso de los números. Pero huir no es la solución, y menos con un bebé en camino. Ponto deberán recurrir a la ayuda de otras personas, pero, ¿pueden confiar en ellas? ¿O solo buscan aprovecharse de sus dones?

Dates, Dates, Dates. What would you do if you could see when everyone was going to die????The book takes place in London and it is in the English countryside. I think this book takes place in London because Jem knows about London.

The main character is Jem. She is the protagonist. Jem is 15 years old. Jem was in a foster home with 22 siblings. When she looks at people she sees the date they will die. She avoids getting to know people. While she is waiting for the train, she sees the death date of everybody waiting for the train. They all flash the numbers of today's date and London is going to be attacked. Spider is the other main character and he steals money. He is the antagonist. They end up falling in love. Jem isn't sure if she should let people know about the numbers. Every number that she sees that person ends up dying that day.

I think that the book is about survival because the police are out to get Jem and Spider. Jem and Spider are separated from each other because of the police chases. Spider dies in the book and then Jem can’t see the numbers anymore. Later on in the book Jem’s child tells her he can see numbers above people's heads.

I like it because it’s about survival. I did not like that people were dying. I recommend this book because this book is a little bit dangerous because people are dying and the people are getting chased by the cops. I would recommend this book to anyone that is thirteen or older because people are learning to read chapter books at that age and it's a reading level book.

Adam Wilde has inherited his mother Jem's ability to see "numbers" - the dates people will die - when he looks into their eyes. Adam is very scared because many people, especially in London, have death dates in the first few days of 2027. Sarah Parker has a recurring nightmare of her baby being taken from her and carried into an inferno, and when she meets Adam in school, she is horrified to realize he is the person from her dream. Adam is smitten with her, but feels compelled to warn Londoners of the pending disaster. I found the book kind of slow and written for a younger audience, but liked the accelerating pace and how things came together in the last third of the novel.

Probably a little better than dreadful, but not by much. Adam, Sarah and Mia are hiding from the government since he is supposedly a murderer. But, he has a chip so how hard can he be to find? It also seemed like Adam got stupid, even before falling of a motorcycle. His use of language definitely regressed from the articulate savior in Book #1. Sarah also seemed insipid, pining for Adam: not at all the self-starter from the first two books. The villain was not well developed nor was his overall agenda. Finally, the number switching thing was silly.

Probably a 3.5. A young British adolescent sees numbers next to everyone, which it turns out are the date of their deaths. Disinterested in school, with no real friends, she befriends a black hoodlum and on an excursion she forsees disaster at the London Eye, fleeing the scene right before a terrorist bombing. Sought by the police, the two go on the lam. The relationship stuff felt real, but I thought some of the dialogue was contrived.

Disappointing. Cool concept, engaging characters, and some really nicely done scenes, but predictable and preachy in a too obvious way. Also, editors either needed to leave the British English alone, or edit it to American English consistently. Characters described as eating biscuits and cookies in the same paragraph! I don't think I'll be continuing with this series.

teen fiction--troubled teens with psychic abilities/a little adventure romance. While not the most outstanding title I've read in this genre, it is the only book I've picked up lately that really compelled me to keep reading. Solid.

Carls broer is verdronken tijdens het zwemmen. Carl (15, ik-figuur) weet niet meer wat er is gebeurd. Maar de dagen na het ongeval voelt hij de dreigende aanwezigheid van zijn broer. Vanaf ca. 15 jaar.

Unfortunately, this was one of those promising books that just didn't catch me like I wanted it to. It's hard to put a finger on exactly the things that bugged me, but the book taken as a whole just seemed very unsatisfying.

Like other books that have let me down, I can't help mourning the loss of such a good premise. Jem has the ability to see people's death dates by looking them in the eye. The terrible curse of this power weighs heavily on Jem, who is already a belligerant, defiant orphan. But things take a big turn when she connects with her fellow classmate Spider and then is present for a terrible attack that she can see coming. Forced to go on the run, Jem and Spider grow closer during their flight from familiarity, culminating in a climax that is decidedly...flat. Despite how intense, horrible, and potentially crushing the final few chapters are, there's just something about them that renders them almost completely unemotional. Maybe it was my failure to ever really like Jem or Spider. The only character I felt genuine affection for was Spider's no-nonsense aunt Val. Our two main characters are usually rude to everyone around them, lie and steal as though it were a perfectly acceptable part of everyday life, and generally don't have that many redeeming qualities except their admittedly strong affection for each other.

And I never did like a wonderful premise that wasn't fulfilled. While there was plenty of angst and ethical problems to go along with Jem's power, the ability itself was never explored. It was just sort of...left to lie there. It's a monumental ability with the potential for so much expansion, subversion, and twists, but in the end it's played depressingly and almost annoyingly straight.

I do want to read the sequel because an interesting if predictable epilogue provided a possibly good premise for it. But this book probably should have remained the short story it started as.

Adam has more than inherited his mother's curse: When he looks in someone's eyes, he not only sees the date of their death...he feels the searing, shocking pain of it. Since Jem died, Adam has lived by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But when rising tides flood the coast, they return to London. The city is an alien, exciting, frightening place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can't help but clock how many people's numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year's Day. What chaos awaits the world? Can he and Sarah stop a catastrophe? Or are they, too, counted among the "twenty-sevens"?

This was a pretty good book. The main character is a refreshing change. She's gifted, but she doesn't want to be, and the gift doesn't define her entirely. The plot had me on the edge of my seat, and I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. It is a must read.

Finally got a hold of this book to see what all the fuss is about. Actor Rachel Ward has written a gem though I wish she had left out the sex stuff as It is a great concept without it and now I can only promote it to older students. Basically an orphan girl called Jem who saw her mother die of a drug overdose can see numbers on the heads of everyone she meets. The number is their date of death and so far, every time it has been proven true. Jem doesn't like school and wags to be with Spider, a tall black guy who she likes. Then the 2 of them visit the London eye and Jem sees that everyone in the line to ride it has the same date on their head - today. She convinces Spider to run and then a terrorist bomb explodes the ride. Unfortunately Jenm and Spider are spotted on cc tv so the police think they are suspects and are after them.
To make matters worse Spider has stolen some drug courier money from his crime boss and so they are after them too.
AS they run, Jem is drawn to the fact that Spider's number..i.e date of death...is getting closer and closer.
Lots of swearing, sex, drugs, violence...you name it, but at the same time a riveting story that grabs you and won't let go.
She probably didn't need to write any sequels ...½

Je regrette vraiment d'avoir acheté ce livre. En plus d'être très mal écrit (et je pèse mes mots), les personnages sont absolument sans intérêts et antipathiques. Je n'ai aucune intention d'acheter la suite. Dommage l'idée de départ était pourtant bonne.½

Really liked this book. I liked the ending too!

:)

Good book.

I do much of my 'reading' by listening to recorded books.. and I did so for this one. I found the accent to be extremely distracting... will try for the other 2 books in the series, in paper format.

When I was browsing through the library shelf in the ya section this book caught my eye well actually the cover drew me too the books, and when I read the synopsis I had too check it out. Now I didn't know this was part of a series and I didn't know it had low ratings on Goodreads. And I understand way some readers don't like this book or the series, but I really quite love and enjoy this book that it caught me off guard at first that I really love and enjoyed this book. The plot and concept was really unique and different that I absolutely loved reading the new and refreshing plot take in this book. That I was on my toes while reading this great book. The writing style was flawless and expressive that I can feel all the emotions that Jem and Spider were feeling in Numbers and I just felt terrible for Jem for what she was going through in life. The characters were very well developed and diverse that I was really over joy too see an interracial relationships between Spider and Jem. That I rarely read books that have interracial relationships so yay for Diversity in books! I will most definitely continue on reading the next books of the series after reading that open ending at the end of Numbers. I really want too read Jem son's books next!

Per la prima volta non vuole più essere una semplice spettatrice. Sperava che il suo numero fosse sbagliato. Sperava fosse solo un frutto della sua immaginazione ma sapeva che non era così. In modo del tutto irrazionale però Jem voleva proteggerlo, anzi salvarlo dal suo destino.



Numbers è senza dubbio un romanzo per giovani, young adult secondo la terminologia attuale, ma è un libro assolutamente godibile anche per un adulto.

Nonostante presenti alcuni canoni oserei dire "standard" e individuabili in molti young adult, in realtà si distingue dalla massa per picchi di originalità e per la capacità dell'autrice di dare alla trama quel tocco di "realtà" che non guasta mai.

Jem, da quando è una bambina, guarda in viso le persone e vede dei numeri. Non comprende realmente cosa significhino finché, un giorno, la morte della madre non le confermerà che quelli che le riteneva dei semplici numeri non sono in realtà delle date. LE date.

Inizia così un lungo periodo di solitudine per Jem che, costretta a passare di famiglia in famiglia e di istituito in istituto, finirà per chiudersi sempre più in se stessa e con il voler perdere con accenno di femminilità che potrebbe contraddistinguerla.

Jem non è bellissima ma neanche bruttissima, è una ragazzina anonima che non si interessa minimamente di voler apparire diversamente. Lei, in realtà, vorrebbe essere invisibile per non dover essere costretta a guardare in viso le persone, per non essere costretta a conoscere il loro futuro senza poter far nulla per cambiarlo.

Finchè, un giorno, non incontra Spider e anche in questo caso l'autrice ci sorprende. Il ragazzo non è il bello e sexy della situazione, non è nemmeno ricco visto che frequenta la stessa classe di "casi particolari" di Jem e vive con sua nonna. No, Spider è un ragazzo alto e dinoccolato di colore del quale, Jem, non ne vuole sapere nulla. Non è interessata di conoscere lui ne la sua storia, visto soprattutto che la sua storia è destinata a finire molto presto.

Ma Spider, testardamente, conquisterà la sua amicizia e la sua fiducia portandola, piano piano, a scoprirsi sempre più. Fino a che, un giorno, Jem non si ritroverà completamente coinvolta, e sconvolta, da questa amicizia con il ragazzo che vorrebbe salvare da quella data che le appare ogni volta che lo guarda negli occhi. Occhi che ha imparato ad amare, nonostante tutto.

E' vero è presente una storia d'amore (alla fine), ma è anche vero che non ci sono Principi o Principesse che corrono per salvare il loro amore eterno. No, niente affatto.

La storia è un continuo perenne di tensione che tiene incollato il lettore pagina dopo pagina, senza tregua. Ci chiediamo perfino se la capacità di leggere la Morte di Jem sia vera o frutto della sua immaginazione. Il tutto mentre seguiamo silenziosamente questi due ragazzini scoprirsi, piano, come cani randagi, annusarsi per poi lentamente innamorarsi l'uno dell'altra mentre fuggono da una città che li addita come assassini e attentatori perché, Jem, aveva "visto".

In Numbers conosciamo, di riflesso, la parte di più triste e disadattata della Gran Bretagna dove il problema della delinquenza giovanile, bullismo o dell'abbandono dell'istruzione è particolarmente sentita. E' un romanzo che coinvolge, sconvolte ma fa riflettere, non potrebbe essere altrimenti ed è per questo che dico che è un ottimo spunto di lettura anche per un adulto.

Un romanzo che riesce a intrigare nel profondo fino alla fine, quando speriamo che tutto possa essere sistemato ma che, diversamente, si riconferma quanto sia impossibile farla in barba a Chi è più grande di noi. Un romanzo che termina con una flebile speranza smorzata sotto i colpi di una realtà alquanto disarmante.

Da leggere, assolutamente, anche per lo stile pulito ed estremamente avvincente dell'autrice che è riuscita, con semplicità, a tener incollato il lettore alle quasi 400 pagine del romanzo senza apparente sforzo.

Indubbiamente in alcuni tratti appare un po' poco realistico, o forse troppo "facile", come nel caso del "soccorso in extremis" ricevuto da Jem verso la fine. Tutto sommato, però, è servito a smorzare leggermente i toni cupi e oltretutto il romanzo è stato riportato in carreggiata da un finale tutt'altro che scontato.

E' indubbio che la "freddura" finale lasci aperte le possibilità per un sequel che, in effetti, è già disponibile nelle librerie americane. E noi? Non ci resta che aspettare.

The numbers are a date: the date of the person’s death. When Jem looks at people she seenumbers1 their numbers. One could describe such an ability as a gift but, understandably, Jem sees it as a burden. Like it or not, she knows when your number is up.

Jem is a white, 5ft-nothing teenager. Her dad was never in the picture and her mother, it seems, was a prostitute junkie who died of an overdose when Jem was seven. It was Jem who found her body. Passed from foster parent to foster parent, Jem feels her life is going nowhere.

Then Spider comes into her life. Skinny, black and 6ft 4in, he’s a classmate who spends little time in class. Spider’s days are certainly numbered, but he and Jem have fun together on a day out in London … until Jem sees a whole group of people with the same numbers in their eyes, queuing for a turn, ironically enough, on the London Eye. And the numbers are that day’s date. With a sense of impending doom, she and Spider flee the area…. This is the start of a story with many highs and lows for Jem and Spider.

I had high hopes for this book... Sadly I was disappointed. A lot of pointless swearing, pointless plot turns... The ending was sort of okay, but I hated that I had to get there.... Just not one of my favorite reads so far this year.