What I read in January 2024

I want to try to keep on top of book review posts this year, so here is the first. These are the books I read for myself in January – not included are the dozens I read to the toddler!

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon. Caryn was 10 years old the day her little brother went missing while she was supposed to be looking after him. Afterwards, she was sent away to live with her grandmother. Now, 20 years later, someone has summoned her back to the Welsh village where she grew up. Someone who claims to know the truth about what happened that night. What Caryn discovers will shock the small community to its very core. This book was enjoyable enough but I found it a little slow in parts and wasn’t always too sure about the writing style. I guessed the final twist shortly before it was revealed. 3 stars.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more – though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth she’s been hiding, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she really was – lovely and amazing and deeply flawed – can she begin to discover her own path. This was fine. It did make me tear up at one point and I liked that the love interest couldn’t save Laurel from her grief – she had to work things out for herself. But honestly, as a character Laurel was pretty bland. I think she was supposed to be “quirky” or “different” or something, but she just seemed unsure of who she was and desperate not to be noticed to the point that even as a reader I barely noticed her despite the fact that I was reading her actual letters! The fact that it was written in letters made it a relatively quick read though. 2.5 stars.

Magpie by Eve Ainsworth. It has been a long time since Alice has felt safe. Because of him. Ross. But now she, Mum and her little brother Henry have finally moved far away, where Ross will never find them. It’s a fresh start, Mum says. This time, she is never going back.
Slowly Alice starts to build a life for herself, at a new school with new friends. But she can’t escape the feeling she is being watched. That he might be lurking, waiting to ruin everything again. That Mum might be about to break her promise. That, just when Alice is starting to feel safe, everything will be taken away from her.  This is beautifully written. I would have liked it to be longer and some aspects of the plot more fleshed out, but overall it was enjoyable. I only realised at the end that it’s a sequel (the first book is about the main character’s best friend) so maybe if I had read the books in order some things would have felt more complete. I really felt for Alice and just wanted to give her a big hug. 4 stars.

The Wishing Game by Patrick Redmond. Something terrible happened at Kirkston Abbey school for boys during 1954. More than 40 years later, Tim Webber is determined to find out the truth… Kirkston Abbey is no place for the weak: its rules are harsh and its discipline savage. So the struggling Jonathan Palmer cannot believe his luck when Richard Rokeby – tough, handsome, aloof – befriends him. But Rokeby’s possessive friendship is suffocating and, what starts out as an innocent game amongst friends, takes a shocking turn as Palmer finds himself powerless to stop Rokeby from unleashing a horrifying fate on them all.  I don’t really know what I thought of this book. Parts were boring with way too much description but then others had me hooked. Most of the book read like a straight up thriller so the ending seemed to come out of nowhere and had me completely confused. 3.5 stars.

Dotty Detective by Clara Vulliamy. Meet Dorothy Constance Mae Louise, or Dot as she prefers to be called! Dot loves super-sour apple sherbets, running fast and puzzles – especially if they’re fiendishly tricky. Together with her trusty sidekick and TOP DOG McClusky, she is always ready to sniff out a mystery. So when someone seems set on sabotaging the school talent show, Dot and her new friend Beans are determined to find out how, and save the day.  This is a fun book. It would be a good introduction to the detective story genre for readers from about age 7. I thought Dotty was going to be a bit annoying at first but she ended up being quite fun and a lovely friend. It’s a shame the mystery had to invite a “mean girl” but it’s a good book and would definitely have been a favourite when I was a child. Also, fun fact, Clara Vulliamy is the daughter of beloved children’s author Shirley Hughes (I didn’t know that until I’d finished this book). 4 stars.

So, five books read in January. Not a bad start to the year. Unfortunately none of them were by BAME/BIPOC authors. I’ll try and remedy that in February.

What I read from October to December 2023

It’s Saturday, 30 December and Jan has taken the toddler out shopping – the first time he’s left the house since testing positive for COVID on the evening of Christmas Day (which he subsequently gave to me) – so we’ll see how far I can get with this before they return and it’s time to cook tea. It would be nice to get my 2023 reviews finished before the year ends! These are the books I read from October until the end of the year. Since I’ve only actually read one book in December it made sense to put them all in one post.

October

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (The Housemaid #1). “Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own. Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am. They don’t know what I’m capable of… I feel like everyone read this in 2022 so I’m slightly late to the party. It was a fun read. Somewhat predictable, totally bizarre, very unbelievable in parts (the police!) but well-written and slightly addictive. Also, I saw the very last twist/reveal/whatever you want to call it coming a mile away. Definitely not one that I could read again but I did enjoy it at the time. 3 stars.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet – until a woman’s terrified scream shatters the tranquility. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table pass the time in conversation, and friendships are struck. One of them is Freddie, a writer from Australia who is in the US on a scholarship and decides to add the three others as characters in the book she’s writing. Meanwhile, each of the others has their own reasons for being in the reading room that morning – it just happens that one is a murderer…. This is the story that Hannah Tigone is working on when the pandemic hits. So her online friend Leo offers to be her eyes in Boston, performing research for her while she can’t travel. When Leo sends a photo of a crime scene insisting that it’s time Hannah wrote another murder into her novel, Hannah begins to question whether Leo is who he says he is. This book has mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. I loved the concept of the story within a story (within a story?) and the helper/fan not being all that he seems. I actually have the opposite complaint to some other people – a few have said the Leo part was unnecessary and they skipped his emails to get on with the main murder mystery, but I actually felt like there could have been more from Leo. Not necessarily additional emails, but more escalation. His increasing weirdness was well done, but I felt like more should have been made of Hannah maybe feeling personally threatened by him. It was really interesting to read his guesses and compare them to my own feelings about where things were going with Hannah’s manuscript. I did notice a few typos in Hannah’s story, and I wasn’t entirely sure whether those were missed during editing or left on purpose as a reminder that the story was supposed to be a rough draft being sent to someone for review/commenting. 4 stars.

The People Next Door by Tony Parsons. Lana and Roman Wade have fled the city for a little corner of paradise, exchanging their flat with its unhappy memories for a small honey-coloured house among the rolling green hills of Oxfordshire. Their new home, set in a residential Close known as The Gardens, is their dream and their new neighbours are charming.
So why is Lana feeling so uneasy? Lana and Roman may seem like an attractive, popular couple. But they also have a secret; a secret buried in the life they have left behind, a secret they have shared with no-one. But their new neighbours – these charming, affluent men and women in the Gardens – have secrets of their own. Terrible secrets; unimaginable secrets that include the apparently happy family who lived – and tragically died – in Lana and Roman’s new home. Is their new home really as idyllic as it seems or could Lana’s intuition be trying to tell her something? This started off well and there were good bits scattered throughout, but it was extremely convoluted and the ending was very abrupt. Things didn’t fully add up and I still have questions! 2 stars.

Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern. A documentary crew discover a mysterious young woman living alone in the mountains of West Cork. Strikingly beautiful she has an extraordinary talent for mimicry, like the famous Australian Lyrebird. The crew, fascinated, make her the subject of her story, and bestow the nickname upon her. When they leave, they take Lyrebird with them back to the city. But as she leaves behind her peaceful life to learn about a new world, is she also leaving behind a part of herself? For her new friend Solomon the answer isn’t clear. When you find a rare and precious thing, should you share it – or protect it? I have loved Cecelia Ahern’s books in the past but this one just wasn’t for me. It started off well then I got bored in the middle and put it down for ages – I actually started it in August so that should give you some idea! I only finally picked it up again because I was reading it for a challenge and didn’t have a single other book that would fit. Luckily it did pick up again at some point but the ending was meh. I’m giving it 3 stars for the parts I did enjoy.

November

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep – and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned. Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her – even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams – but of what? I really enjoyed this while I was reading it, but then it seemed to just end without any actual resolution. A lot of things are mentioned throughout the book that seem to be significant, but we never find out whether that’s actually the case (did the lake being lower than usual actually have anything to do with anything or did the author just feel like throwing that titbit in there several times?). The writing is beautiful but I was ultimately left unsatisfied. 3 stars.

(the answer to the above question was: this far. Now Jan is playing Lego with Zyma so let’s try and finish this)

Digging to America by Anne Tyler. Friday August 15th, 1997. Two tiny Korean babies are delivered to two very different Baltimore families. Every year, on the anniversary of ‘Arrival Day’ the two families celebrate together, with more and more elaborately competitive parties, as little Susan and Jin-ho take roots and become American. This was fine. I read it all in one day mainly because I was on trains (2 hours each way), my phone didn’t have much battery and there wasn’t anything else to do. I didn’t dislike it but was more vaguely interested than totally engrossed. Some parts were better than others but honestly I would have been more interested in a story that focused more on the two adopted girls – which is what I was expecting from the synopsis. 2.5 stars.

Murder At Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong (Haven’s Rock #1). Deep in the Yukon wilderness, a town is being built. A place for people to disappear, a fresh start from a life on the run. Haven’s Rock isn’t the first town of this kind, something detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, know first hand. They met in the original town of Rockton. But greed and deception led the couple to financing a new refuge for those in need. This time around, they get to decide which applicants are approved for residency. There’s only one rule in Haven’s Rock: stay out of the forest. When two of the town’s construction crew members break it and go missing, Casey and Eric are called in ahead of schedule to track them down. When a body is discovered, well hidden with evidence of foul play, Casey and Eric must find out what happened to the dead woman, and locate the still missing man. The woman stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to see, and the longer Casey and Eric don’t know what happened, the more danger everyone is in. This is a direct follow-on from the Rockton series and it’s basically more of the same from the original series, which is fine by me. New location, a few new characters (one in particular I hope will show up again) and the return of some familiar faces. A little far-fetched at times, maybe, but I enjoyed reading it and will definitely be continuing with the next book. 4 stars.

December

The Missing Husband by Amanda Brooke. When Jo pretends to be asleep as her husband leaves for work the morning after an argument, she doesn’t realise how deeply she will come to regret missing the opportunity to say goodbye. By nightfall, her life has changed irrevocably. That night, David fails to come home and there doesn’t seem to be any trace of him. Jo is five months pregnant and, on the surface, her marriage seems perfect. The only thing marring her happiness is the secret she was hiding from her husband. Was it all the secrets inside his marriage that drove David away? Or something much worse? This was fine but not really what I was expecting. I feel like the synopsis was misleading – “something much worse” implied a different ending so the reveal was almost a let down. The pacing was quite slow but I did mostly enjoy the plot. I was pleased the mother-in-law stood by Jo and never tried to blame her. What she did wasn’t necessarily right but that doesn’t mean she deserved to suffer the way she did. 3 stars.

So that’s eight books in three months, one by a BAME/BIPOC author. And I’ve managed to finish all my book reviews before the end of 2023! I still want to do my traditional annual review, but that will have to wait until next year.

What I read in September 2023

It’s nearly Christmas and I’m (finally) nearly at the end of this year’s book reviews. I read four in September.

One of Us is Back by Karen McManus (One of Us Is Lying #3). Ever since Simon died in detention, life hasn’t been easy for the Bayview Crew. First the Bayview Four had to prove they weren’t killers. Then a new generation had to outwit a vengeful copycat. Now, it’s beginning again.  At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview. But when a member of the crew disappears, it’s clear this ‘game’ just got serious – and no one understands the rules. Everyone’s a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things are starting to get deadly. It seems Simon was right about secrets – they all come out in the end. And Bayview is still hiding a lot of them… As soon as I saw that there was a new book in this series I just had to have it, and it didn’t disappoint. Itwas fun to be back with the Bayview crew and find out what they’re all doing now. This one took a while to pick up and I felt like there were too many characters – I kept getting confused between two in particular. But in the end I really enjoyed it, and this time I didn’t guess who the culprit was. 4 stars.

What We Fear Most: A Psychiatrist’s Journey Into the Heart of Madness by Dr Ben Cave. Meet Dr Ben Cave. For over thirty years he has worked in prisons and secure hospitals diagnosing and treating some of the most troubled men and women in society. A lifetime of care takes us from delusional disorders to schizophrenia, steroid abuse to drug dependency, personality disorders to paedophilia, and depression so severe a mother can kill her own baby. Dr Ben Cave revelas the human stories behind the headlines, taking us on a journey to the heart of this highly emotive environment, putting himself under the microscope as well as his patients. In the process, he allows us to share what they have taught each other, and how it has changed them. To share the psychological battle scars that come with a career on the frontline of our health service. To learn about the brilliant mental health nurses for whom physical injury and verbal abuse are a daily hazard. To learn about ourselves, and what we fear most. I really enjoyed this book. There is definitely some dark humour at times, which I suppose is inevitable given the experiences the author hashad. It’s a laugh or you’ll cry kind of scenario! And he does tend to go off on a tangent at times, but I actually didn’t mind that. I loved the random personal anecdotes from his non-professional life. This is the kind of non-fiction that I can actually get myself to sit and read – personal, interesting, occasionally funny and not at all dry!

Shadowghast by Thomas Tylor (The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea #3). While other towns celebrate Halloween on 31 October, in Eerie-on-Sea it’s Ghastly Night, and a grim spirit in a lantern awaits its moment. Legend has it that if people fail to light manglewick candles on Ghastly Night, and if no showman conjures shadow puppets on the pier as an offering, the insulted Shadowghast will seize and devour the shadows of the living. This year, a professional theater troupe has arrived, including a raven-haired magician named Caliastra with startling news of shipwrecked orphan Herbet Lemon’s origins. No sooner have the players checked into the hotel than townspeople start vanishing into thin air, including the guardian of Herbie’s best friend, Violet Parma. It’s up to Herbie and Violet to separate truth from sleight of hand and solve the mystery of the Shadowghast lantern before darkness swallows them all. This was great! Very atmospheric – although I kind of wish I had saved it for October/Halloween. I thought it was better than the first two (which I gave 4 stars each). I loved Erwin the cat’s role in this one. I was hoping for a few more answers about Herbie’s past – instead I got more questions. But hopefully the next book will provide a few more reveals. 5 stars.

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall. Every Thursday, three retired school teachers have their ‘coffee o’clock’ sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre café. But one fateful week, as they are catching up with a slice of cake, they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy. By the next Thursday, Topsy’s dead. The last thing Liz, Thelma and Pat imagined was that they would become involved in a murder! But they’re certain there’s more to Topsy’s death than meets the eye – and with the police having written it off as an accident, it’s down to them to prove it… I thought this would be a nice, relaxing read that wouldn’t require much thought. And in a way it was. The pacing was reeeally slow though, at least in the beginning, and I found myself getting bored at times. The three women acted much older than they actually are – some of them had only been retired for 2 years and one even had a teenage son so it seems very unlikely that they wouldn’t know what emojis are! They also didn’t actually seem to like each other much based on their inner monologues. There were a few funny moments though and I did like the inclusion of Liam’s story. 3 stars.

Four books. Zero by BAME/BIPOC authors. I recommend One of Us Is Back and Shadowgast if you’ve enjoyed the previous books in the series, and highly recommend What We Fear Most. Have you read anything good lately?

What I read in August 2023

Time for another book post. I think I will need to do two more before my annual review of the year. Currently we are all full of cold. Z managed three days of nursery, but today she woke up with a fever so that’s her off for 2 days (and therefore the rest of the week). At least she was there for the visit from “Samichlaus” (St Nicholas).

Anyway, book reviews. I have four for you.

13 Curses by Michelle Harrison (Thirteen treasures #2). When fairies stole her brother, Red vowed to get him back.  At the end of book 1 she had her chance when she managed to get herself taken to the fairy realm. Now trapped there, Red must beg an audience with the fairy court. There, she strikes a bargain. Her brother will be returned – but only if she can find the charms of Tanya’s bracelet, scattered in the human world. Returning to Elvesden Manor, Red is assisted by Tanya and Fabian, and a desperate hunt begins. Soon they make a shocking discovery. The charms now have twisted qualities of the thirteen treasures they represent . . . and the longer they are missing the worse the consequences will be. Can Red, Tanya and Fabian find all the charms? And even if they do, will the fairies keep their promise?  This is even darker than the first book – the Hedgewitch is a fantastic villain. Red is a great addition to the team and I enjoyed finding out more of her story as well as getting to know the fairy realm a bit. The pacing was a little weird at times – either the trio found the charms instantly or spent ages discussing – but overall it was an enjoyable read. I’m intrigued to see where things go from here – I’m hoping Red gets a happy ending. 4 stars.

The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel. Ingrid Bell and her five teenage cousins are such a close-knit group that they don’t really mind sitting at the kid table-even if they have to share it with a four-year-old. But then Brianne, the oldest cousin, lands a seat at the adult table and leaves her cousins shocked and confused. What does it take to graduate from the kid table? Over the course of five family events, Ingrid chronicles the coming-of-age of her generation. Her cousins each grapple with growing pains, but it is Ingrid who truly struggles as she considers what it means to grow up. When first love comes in the form of first betrayal (he’s Brianne’s boyfriend), Ingrid is forced to question her own personality and how she fits into her family. As the cousins each take their own path toward graduating into adulthood, they realise that maybe the kid table was where they wanted to be all along.  This is an odd book. It isn’t bad as such but it feels like both a lot happens and not much happens at the same time. The major issues that occur seem to be resolved without any major fuss  but maybe that’s just the matter-of-fact way that Ingrid describes everything. She’s so emotionally detached that, only seeing the other characters through her eyes, I felt like I barely knew them by the end. The conflict at the heart of the premise was weird as well. The synopsis talks about Ingrid’s “first love” but it didn’t feel like she loved him at all. More like she was attracted to and intrigued by him. Trevor was obviously a terrible person – at least Ingrid didn’t know who he was when she first felt a connection and started flirting with him. He was obviously well aware that he was flirting with his girlfriend’s cousin! 3 stars.

An Order of Coffee and Tears by B. R. Spangler. Gabriella Santiago used to be a typical teenager who enjoyed the usual teenage things. That is until a single tragic day ended who she was and within hours she ran from home, never to look back. Only when Gabby is cold, hungry and at her lowest, does she find Angela’s Diner – a place that has the reputation of a safe haven where patrons find a moment of peace as they linger over coffee and tears. Gabby embraces her new life and the family she has found in the midst of strangers and obscurity. Acceptance is what she craves, but before long, Gabby realizes she’s not the only one in the diner with something to hide. Her new family has a secret too, and some secrets refuse to stay buried.  I was expecting more from this book. There was a lot going on, but I still found it a bit boring at times. I felt like most of it had been done before. It passed the time okay but I’m not sure I would recommend it. 2.5 stars. I’d recommend reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop cafe instead.

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce. Twelve years ago, Gretchen’s twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods. Ever since, Gretchen and her brother, Ansel, have felt the long branches of the witch’s forest threatening to make them disappear too. When their stepmother casts them out, Ansel and Gretchen find sanctuary with Sophia Kelly at her sweet shop. Gretchen Is lulled by the intoxicating treats that Sophia creates, until Gretchen meets handsome social outcast, Samuel, who tells her the witch isn’t gone and is looking to make Gretchen its next victim. to look deeper at the secrets of the town. Tired of running, Gretchen is determined that this time she will fight back.  Yet, the further she investigates the mystery of what the witch is and how it chooses its victims, the more she wonders who the real monster is.  This was fairly enjoyable. There’s an intriguing mystery throughout and I did like the twist on the witch in the woods (a chocolate maker instead of a gingerbread cottage). I found the characters slightly forgettable though. Gretchen was okay but I never really felt any connection to Ansel. he was kind of bland. I only found out after reading this that this is book 2 in a series. Sisters Red seems to be more of a companion novel though with maybe a few overlapping characters so I don’t think I missed anything by not reading that one first. 3 stars.

So, four books that passed the time just fine but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. The Thirteen Treasures series is worth a read if you like middle grade fantasy, the others are enjoyable enough so read them if you’re interested. None of these are by BAME/BIPOC authors.

What I read in June and July 2023

Is this just a book review blog now? I hope not, but you could definitely be forgiven for thinking so! I’m nearly caught up on reviews though (for now). I read four books in June and three in July so I thought I’d post the two months together.

June

The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas. In a rural Wilshire town lies the Devil’s Corridor – a supposedly haunted stretch of road through the woods – which has witnessed eerie happenings, from unexplained deaths to the sounds of a child crying in the night. But none of the mysteries is more puzzling than the Olivia Rutherford case. Four girls were driving home. After their car crashed only one – Olivia – was found. What happened to the girls who disappeared? On the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, journalist Jenna Halliday has arrived in Wiltshire to cover the case. The locals aren’t happy with this outsider determined to dig into the past. Least of all Olivia. Soon, Jenna starts receiving threatening notes. The locals have made it clear she’s not welcome. But someone is going to make her leave one way or another. Jenna has been warned: she must get out of this town before she suffers a dark fate… and becomes another of the area’s mysteries.  I enjoyed most of this book. The mystery was intriguing and there was a really creepy and unsettling atmosphere. The ending/twist felt both disappointing and almost like overkill. I didn’t guess the twist mainly because I didn’t have enough information. I had a theory about how the second storyline connected to Olivia/the main plot but I was wildly off base – mostly because I was completely wrong about *when* it was taking place. 3 stars.

In the Dark by Mark Billingham. A Deadly Crash. A rainy night in south London. A gun is fired into a car, which swerves onto the pavement and plows into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost the life of an innocent victim. But the reality is far more sinister… A Dangerous Quest.  One life is wiped out and three more are changed: the young man whose finger was on the trigger, the ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. How will she, two weeks away from giving birth, now cope in a world where death is an occupational hazard? A Shocking Twist. In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible. Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story’s final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come. This synopsis was taken word for word from the back of the book, and it was definitely oversold! I spent the whole time waiting for the “far more sinister” part to happen, but it was all pretty standard and obvious.  I was expecting something very different and actually sinister – or at least unusual. I did like Helen though. 2 stars.

What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie. Ginny Anderson’s plans for her summer break include attending a mystery writer’s course with her best friend and starting to write her first novel. But all of that is ruined when her father – a respected restoration expert in Chicago- announces that the entire family are going to Michigan for a month. And they aren’t staying in a hotel like most families would. No, they’re staying in a century-old, twenty-six room mansion surrounded by dense forest. Woodmoor Manor. Locals claim there are mutated creatures in the surrounding woods – experiments that escaped a mad scientist over a hundred years ago. And some say campers routinely disappear never to be seen again. When strange things start happening in the mansion, Ginny discovers that there’s more than one mystery in Saugatuck, Michigan and it’s definitely not campers that are the target… I forgot to review this book in June so now I’m trying to remember what I thought. The title is very misleading – I have no idea what lives in the woods because nothing actually happens there! There are some nicely creepy parts and I enjoyed Ginny’s friendship with Will. It takes a little while for things to really get going though – Ginny spends far too much time trying to convince her parents to leave the mansion before finally deciding to try and solve the mystery. 3.5 stars.

When I Was Five I killed Myself by Howard Buten. Burton Rembrandt has the sort of perspective on life that is almost impossible for adults to understand: the perspective of an 8-year-old. And to Burt, his parents and teachers seem to be speaking a language he cannot understand. This is Burt’s story as written in pencil on the walls of  the Quiet Room in the Children’s Trust Residence Center, where he lands after”the incident”. It begins “When I was five, I killed myself…”. This  is a bizarre book. It is convincingly written from the perspective of an 8 year old and some chapters are good, but overall I mostly didn’t know what was going on or what the point in the story was. When the incident is finally revealed it’s underwhelming. I did guess what happened but I thought there would be more to it to at least justify Burt’s being sent away. 3 stars.

July

A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong (Rockton #6). Detective Casey Butler has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions are being granted. The town’s Sheriff, Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. It seems like something bigger is happening in the small town they call home. When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, someone who seems to have come to the Yukon for a wilderness vacation but instead is now fighting for her life, it’s all hands on deck. What – or who – attacked this woman, and why? With the woman unconscious, and no leads, Casey and Eric don’t know where the threat is coming from. Plus, the residents of their deeply secretive town are uneasy with this stranger in their midst. Everyone in Rockton wants this mystery solved – and fast.  I have to admit the plot went a bit far-fetched in this one, but I didn’t care. I’m totally addicted to this series and was perfectly willing to suspend my belief for it. It was very interesting to find out more about how the other settlements in the forest came about and Casey finally got to the bottom of the mystery she’s been trying to solve since book 1. I’m not sure how much further the series can go from here though – the next book is the final one but surely there isn’t too much more to reveal? This is definitely a series that needs to be read in order. Kelley Armstrong does provide a recap at the beginning, but even having read all the previous books the many, many characters were sometimes confusing. If you leap straight in at book 6 I can imagine you’d be totally confused and not enjoy the story at all. (Plus you’d be less forgiving of the completely wild direction it takes.) 4 stars.

The Third Day, the Frost by John Marsden (Tomorrow #3). Ellie and her friends have achieved more than they ever thought possible as an unarmed bunch of amateur teenage fighters. But it’s not enough. The war wages on, their families are in captivity and their country is on its knees. Hiding back in Hell, the friends face a big question: what to do next? The gang have another success when they manage to rescue Kevin. He returns to them equipped with a new knowledge of explosives. Suddenly the question of what to do next becomes clear – launch an attack on the major enemy target of Cobblers’ Bay. Can the six teenagers really stage a major military attack on the enemy? And in their attempt to pull it off, what will they have to sacrifice? They have already lost Corrie and Chris; who else will the group have to lose in their desperation to defend their country? This was a reread for me – I’m going through the whole series again before finally reading book 7 for the first time. I had forgotten how much bleaker the atmosphere is in this installment. This one really brings home the reality of war and that there will be casualties along the way. My review from 2015 said ” There was a lot more action in this book than the second one and I couldn’t stop reading until I had reached the end. I found the story really gripping. I’m really not sure how the series can continue from here given where the group have ended up, but the series clearly does continue so hopefully they’ll get back to the action.” 5 stars.

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love. Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited – her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.  This was interesting. I had never read a book set in Cyprus before and I know next to nothing about its history. I was aware that there is a Turkish and a Greek side of the island and relations between them haven’t exactly been peaceful (hence a number of my childhood friends being posted to Cyprus back in the 90s). The book is beautifully written and very moving. The magical realism woven in between was a bit much at times though – the fig tree chapters were kind of weird and out of place with the rest. 3.5 stars.

So that’s it. If you’ve read any of these let me know what you thought. Do you agree with my opinion?

What I read in May 2023

I’m verrry slowly catching up with book reviews. Here are the ones from May.

This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong (Rockton #3). When Casey Duncan first arrived at the off-the-grid town of Rockton, an isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect from a life with no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. She certainly didn’t expect to be the homicide detective on two separate cases! But the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned and to keep others safe. Of course, Oliver Brady claims he’s being set up. But the longer Brady stays in town, the more things start to go wrong. When evidence comes to light that someone inside Rockton might be working as his accomplice, helping him to escape, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes he’s truly responsible for committing. I’m continuing to really enjoy this series and stayed up until 10:30 p.m. to finish this one, which I’m sure sounds ridiculous but I had to be up at 5:40 a.m. to get my toddler ready for nursery so that’s actually high praise! A lot of this book took place away from Rockton and introduced more of the characters living in the woods – including an interesting encounter with some “hostiles” (you’ll need to read the previous books to find out what that means). Towards the end there seemed to be almost too much going on and it was hard to keep track, so I gave this 4 stars instead of 5.

The Face of Fear by Dean Koontz (also published under the pseudonym Brian Coffey). Graham Harris is a gifted clairvoyant, and during a late-night television interview, he “sees” a murder being committed. He knows that the killer is the man the police have named the Butcher – the brutal slayer of nine young women. Learning of the psychic identification, the Butcher begins to stalk this “witness” to his crime. Soon, Harris and his girlfriend find themselves trapped on the fortieth floor of a deserted office building. The guards have been murdered, the elevators shut down, and the stairways blocked. The only way out is to climb down the sheer face of the building. But there is a blizzard outside with fifty-mile-an-hour winds – and a dangerous fall from Mount Everest has left Harris terrified of climbing. He must risk it though – or become the Butcher’s next victim. This  was fine. There wasn’t much character development and it seemed pretty far-fetched but it kept me interested enough to want to know how it ended. 2 stars. It was published in the 70s and I feel like Dean Koontz’ writing has improved since then!

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer. When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt has left Rob and his  mother responsible for his care. Meanwhile, everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has problems of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college with a secret, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle. When  Rob and Maegan are forced to work together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship, raising the question: Is it okay to do something right for the wrong reasons? I quite liked this. It raised a few interesting questions about right and wrong. Rob wasn’t really likeable, but he did  grow on me by the end. The way Maegan stuck up for her sister was awesome though. I think it will ultimately be forgettable, but it was a quick and entertaining read at the time. 3 stars.

Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong (Rockton #4). The secret town of Rockton has faced some challenges lately; understandable considering its mix of criminals and  victims fleeing society for refuge within its Yukon borders. Casey Duncan, the town’s only detective on a police force of three, has already had to deal with murder, arson, and falling in love in the several months that she’s lived there. Yet even she didn’t think it would be possible for an outsider to locate the town and cause trouble in the place she’s come to call home. When a US Marshal shows up demanding the release of one of the residents, but won’t say who, Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are skeptical. And yet only hours later, the marshal is shot dead and the only possible suspects are the townspeople and Casey’s estranged sister, smuggled into town to help with a medical emergency. It’s up to Casey to figure out who murdered the marshal, and why someone would kill to keep him quiet – before the killer strikes again.  The beginning was a bit slow – it seemed like it was trying to bring readers who had skipped the first 3 books up to speed, but having recently read book 3 that all seemed a bit pointless/repetitive to me. But once the action got started I was hooked. There are a few revelations that had me longing to know where the author is going. I really enjoyed the introduction of Casey’s sister as well – it was nice to see some of the other side of the story of Casey’s upbringing and the sibling relationship. I devoured this book in a single evening and immediately ordered the next – this series is addictive! 4 stars.

So that’s four books, zero by BAME/BIPOC authors and two from the same series!

What I read in January and February 2023

*Creeps in and clears throat sheepishly* Umm, hello. I didn’t realise it had been so long since my last post… I keep meaning to blog, but by the time I’ve worked in the morning and entertained a baby toddler (I guess I’m going to have to get used to calling her that) all afternoon, made her dinner, done her physiotherapy and got her ready for bed I can barely form a coherent sentence. Add to that the fact that this week has been maybe the third time this year that Z has had a full week at nursery and my poor little blog doesn’t stand a chance! I am here now, but I’m picking Zyma up in half an hour so we’ll see if I even manage to finish this post… Life updates and other stuff will follow. Maybe. I’m making no promises at this point 😉

I took the first week of January off work in case Zyma needed some time to get settled back into nursery. She ended up doing fine and wasn’t home ill for the entire week so I actually had a chance to get some reading done. (Then it all went downhill.) So in January I read 7 books, which is quite frankly amazing!

January Reads

Thirty Sunsets by Christine Hurley Deriso. For Forrest Shepherd, getting away to the family’s beach house is the best part of the summer. But this year, her holiday is ruined before it even starts when her mother invites Olivia, her brother’s obnoxious girlfriend, to join them. Forrest is convinced she knows what’s best for her brother… and it isn’t Olivia. But on their vacation, Forrest discovers that everyone has been keeping secrets from her. Maybe she doesn’t know her family as well as she thinks she does? And then there’s Scott, the first cute guy to ever hit on her… but could she be wrong about him, too? This book was extremely predictable. It was obvious (to me) what was going on with Olivia right from scene on the way to the beach house and the second Forrest overheard her parent’s argument I knew exactly what their secret was going to be. Also, as naive and inexperienced as Forrest was, Scott’s lines were so obviously creepy that I’m amazed anybody could fall for them. I kind of understood why Forrest didn’t like Olivia when she thought it was her fault her brother had changed all his plans, but her claims that she hadn’t liked her even before that were… weird. She acted like Olivia was a total bully because she gave her a funny look once (that it turned out Forrest had totally misinterpreted) and laughed when Forrest thought Olivia’s mum was her sister? Weird! I did basically like Forrest though and the book was fine. 2.5 stars.

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran. Beneath the holy mountain Croagh Patrick, in damp and lovely County Mayo, sits the small, sheltered village of Ballinacroagh. To the exotic Aminpour sisters, Ireland looks like a much-needed safe haven. It has been seven years since Marjan Aminpour fled Iran with her younger sisters, Bahar and Layla, and she hopes that in Ballinacroagh, a land of “crazed sheep and dizzying roads,” they might finally find a home. Opening Babylon Café, right in the heart of town, they begin serving up traditional Persian dishes and soon the townsfolk is lured to the new premises by the tantalizing aroma of fresh herb kuku, lamb abgusht and elephant ear fritters, washed down with gallons of jasmine tea from the old samovar. But not everyone wlecomes the three sisters with open arms. The exotic smells coming from the cafe are an affront to the senses of Ballinacroagh’s uncrowned king, Thomas McGuire. After trying to buy the old pastry shop for years and failing, Thomas is enraged to find it occupied – and by foreigners, no less. And he’s not the only one who is less than impressed. But in the stand-up-comedian-turned-priest Father Fergal Mahoney, the gentle, lonely widow Estelle Delmonico, and the headstrong hairdresser Fiona Athey, the sisters find a merry band of supporters against the close-minded opposition of less welcoming villagers stuck in their ways. But the idyll is soon broken when the past rushes back to threaten the Amnipours once more, and the lives they left behind in revolution-era Iran bleed into the present. I had wanted to read this book for years, so I was very excited to find it in a free bookcase. As it turned out, it was fine. The writing style is kind of annoying – it’s like the author took a creative writing course, heard about adjectives and alliteration and proceeded to scatter them throughout. The story itself is reasonably interesting. A lot of things happen that are resolved by the end of the chapter. The beginning hints at magical realism but then that seems to fizzle out. It reminded me a bit of Chocolat, but not as good. 2.5 stars.

The Thirteen Treasures by Michelle Harrison. Tanya has a secret. She can see fairies. But they’re not the fairies we imagine. These ones cast spells on her, rousing her from her sleep and propelling her out of bed. At her wit’s end with her daughter’s behaviour, Tanya’s mother sends her away to live with her grandmother at Elvesden Manor, a secluded countryside mansion on the outskirts of town. Convinced her grandmother hates her, Tanya is less than thrilled about her “banishment”. But then an old photograph leads her to an unsolved mystery. Fifty years ago a girl vanished in the woods nearby – a girl Tanya’s grandmother will not speak of. Fabian, the caretaker’s son, is tormented by the girl’s disappearance. His grandfather was the last person to see her alive, and has lived under suspicion ever since. Together, Tanya and Fabian decide to find the truth. Soon they are facing terrible danger. Could the manor’s sinister history be about to repeat itself? This is an enjoyable book that gets quite dark in places – the fairies are definitely not of the Tinkerbell variety! A couple of times the writing felt a little awkward – I felt like it wasn’t quite as polished as her later Pinch of Magic series – but I don’t think it was anything I would have noticed when I was the target age. Tanya and Fabian made a great team once they got over their differences and I loved Oberon the dog. 4 stars. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

The Land of Yesterday by K. A Reynolds. After Cecelia Dahl’s little brother, Celadon, dies tragically, his soul goes where all souls go: the Land of Yesterday. Now nothing in Cecelia’s world is as it should be. Her beloved house’s spirit is crumbling beyond repair, her father is imprisoned by sorrow, and worst of all, her grief-stricken mother abandons the land of the living to follow Celadon. It’s up to Cecelia to put her family back together, even if that means venturing into the dark and forbidden Land of Yesterday on her own. But as Cecilia braves a hot-air balloon commanded by two gnomes, a sea of daisies, and the Planet of Nightmares, it becomes clear that even if she finds her family, she might not be able to save them. And if she’s not careful, she might just become a lost soul herself, trapped forever in Yesterday. This is an interesting book – part whimsical, part gothic. The writing is really good but the world building could have been better. Some things confused me. Why does Cecelia have sentient hair and is she the only one? Does every house have a house spirit? There were obvious nods to Coraline and The Little Prince (the latter is even explicitly mentioned as a book Cecelia has read) but Coraline is a better book in my opinion. At times I felt like this one was trying too hard to be quotable or send a message. The story is good though and I got through it quickly, I just felt like it could do with some polishing. 3 stars.

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (The Girl From the Well #1). A dead girl walks the streets. She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago. And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan. Because the boy has a terrifying secret – one that would just kill to get out. Creepy and interesting. I found the use of a Japanese legend really intriguing- I know nothing about Japanese ghost stories so that was something a bit different. And Okiku is a fantastic character. Some might find this a bit slow but I actually liked the way the tension built gradually. I think I would like to read the next book in the series – I’m interested to see where it goes next. 4 stars.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. During the school holidays, Ellie and her friends decide to go on a camping trip in the Australian bush. On their return, they find things hideously wrong — their families are missing and their animals are dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in their town has been taken prisoner. As the reality of the situation hits them, they must make a decision — run and hide, give themselves up and be with their families, or fight back. This was a reread because I want to read the first six books again before finally reading book 7. It was obviously written to be part of a series so there’s no real conclusion to the story, but it’s a great start. I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time round. The only very minor criticism is that it hasn’t aged too well – it’s very clearly set in the 90s and I’m not sure how well today’s teenagers will be able to relate to that. 5 stars.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood – those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. There, before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess, and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard – a growing Red rebellion – even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays the only certainty is betrayal. I picked this up from a free bookcase for no other reason than I had heard of it. I thought it was fine. A little cliched, a little predictable but readable enough. 3 stars. I would probably read book 2 if I happened to find it for free again but wouldn’t spend actual money on it.

So, that was January. 7 books, of which 2 were by BIPOC/BAME authors.

(By the way, the answer to the above was no… I did not manage to finish this post before I had to pick Z up from nursery. I’m typing this part in the evening after putting her to bed.)

February Reads

Beloved by Toni Morrison. In the troubled years following the Civil War, the spirit of a murdered child haunts the Ohio home of a former slave. This angry, destructive ghost breaks mirrors, leaves its fingerprints in cake icing, and generally makes life difficult for Sethe and her family; nevertheless, the woman finds the haunting oddly comforting for the spirit is that of her own dead baby, never named, thought of only as Beloved. It took me took me quite a while to get into this book. There were parts in the middle and towards the end that sucked me in, but then it got weird again. I feel like it’s an important book to have read but not one I would pick up again. Maybe I’m just too stupid for it. 3 stars.

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3). The third and final book in this trilogy. Pip is about to head off to uinversity, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? Soon the threats escalate and Pip realises that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars. The police refuse to act, so Pip has no choice but to find the suspect herself – otherwise she may end being the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle… and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. I was not expecting how dark this book was or the major twist. Some things Pip did were way out of character for her – even considering the PTSD after the events in the other book. And I was very surprised that neither her parents nor Ravi noticed just how badly she was doing. I did really enjoy reading it even if some parts felt a little too unbelievable to me , but I preferred the first two books in the series. 4 stars.

Never Forget You by When Lili meets Ben by chance one hot summer’s day, it feels like fate. But life is about to take them in different directions, and so they agree to meet next July, in the beautiful hidden garden where they first laid eyes on each other. But one of them never shows up… Five years later, Ben still wonders how he got things so wrong – he let the love of his life slip between his fingers. And then a stranger, Alice, arrives in his tiny Scottish hometown. Alice has no memory of how she got there: she can’t remember anything before that morning. The only clue to her past is the silver bee necklace she wears – the very same one Ben bought for Lili that magical summer’s day. As Ben, Lili and Alice’s stories converge, so begins a beautiful and deeply emotional story of love, forgiveness and second chances. I thought this was going to be a light, fluffy book but it really isn’t. Lili’s story in particular is harrowing and my heart ached for her (trigger warning here for emotional abuse). I did find myself getting annoyed with her at points – if only she hadn’t been so stubborn/immediately jumped to the worst conclusion things could have been so different. Some of it was predictable and at times the sotry felt a little flat despite everything that was happening, so minus one star for that, but I would recommend it. 4 stars.

Three books in February then, one by a BIPOC/BAME author.

And that’s all from me for today. Hopefully I will get round to reviewing my march reads a bit sooner!

What I read from September – December 2022

Yeah, it’s been a while since I last wrote a review post… Luckily I read so little last year that I can recap 4 four months and still have fewer books to write about than I did in a single month before becoming a mother. And right now I have time, having very cruelly (in her opinion) dropped my daughter off at nursery. I took this week off work in case she needed time to settle in again after the Christmas break, but apart from crying when I leave – a new thing – fingers crossed she’s been fine so far. She even finished all her soup yesterday. She loves soup but she’s never eaten more than 10 spoonfuls at home or in a cafe!

Anyway, if you’re reading this you probably came for books, not babies, so let’s get on with it.

September

Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens (Murder Most Unladylike #7). Having returned from Hong Kong, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are staying with Daisy’s Uncle Felix (and Aunt Lucy). When Uncle Felix is called away for work, the two girls end up at the beautiful Rue Theatre in London, where they will face an entirely new challenge: acting. But behind the theatre’s glittering facade, the girls soon realise that there is trouble at the Rue. Jealousy, threats and horrible pranks quickly spiral out of control – and then one of the cast is found dead. As opening night looms closer, it’s up to Hazel and Daisy to take centre stage and solve the crime… before the murderer strikes again. I really enjoyed this one. I feel like the series is back to its best after a small blip. I loved that Hazel brought some of her confidence she had in Hong Kong back with her. Daisy is getting better at acknowledging Hazel’s strengths and does seem to be genuinely proud of her friend even if she does still act annoyingly superior at times. It was interesting to see how things are changing for the girls as they grow up and can no longer get away with things because people see them as “just kids”. I can’t wait to see where the series takes us next!

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures but not really fitting into either. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend (she swears they’re just on a break!), Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places— including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”- all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her. This was a difficult book to read. I alternated between wanting to shake Queenie and wanting to give her a big hug. There are some humorous parts, but mostly it’s very dark. Poor Queenie is mistreated by just about every man she encounters, and half the time she doesn’t even seem to notice. Her friends were fantastic. Everybody needs friends like Queenie’s. Apart from Clarissa. F Clarissa!

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman. The only child of a single mother, Nina Hill likes her life exactly as it is. She has her dream job in a bookshop, an amazing trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book. When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They’re all – or almost all – excited to meet her! She’ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It’s a disaster! And as if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn’t he realize what a terrible idea that is? It’s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page. This book was cute and quirky, although I don’t remember a lot of what happened now – but I do know it involved books and pub quizzes, which are two of my favourite things. I definitely remember liking Nina and her friends. I feel like it lost me a bit somewhere in the middle? (Can you tell I forgot to write a review at the time?) But overall it was a fast, fun read and I gave it 4 stars.

October

Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin. Snow and Rose didn’t know they were in a fairy tale. People never do… Once, they lived in a big house with spectacular gardens and an army of servants. Once, they had a father and mother who loved them more than the sun and moon. But that was before their father disappeared into the woods and their mother disappeared into sorrow. Before they had to move into a cottage in the very woods that took their father from them. Snow refuses to believe their father won’t return, while Rose is convinced he is dead and they need to get on with their lives as best they can. Despite their fear of the woods, eventually Rose and Snow begin to venture out to explore off the beaten paths. They find a friend – Ivo, an unusual boy who farms mushrooms – and an unusual library, but they also come across more dangerous things in the woods – bandits and wolves and a giant bear. Unknowingly, the two sisters have already started along the path that will lead them to their eventual fate. This is a charming little tale and the illustrations are gorgeous. The side characters aren’t really fleshed out which I guess is typical for a fairytale but I would have liked to know more about the librarian and I have unanswered questions about the huntsman. Overall I did like it though and think 7-8 year olds would probably love it. It is fairly true to the original stors of Snow White and Rose Red without being quite as dark. 3.5 stars.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell. Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply – but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point. Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie announces that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and she thinks she’s finally about to get her big break; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her, but she doesn’t expect him to pack up the kids and actually go home without her. When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything. That night, Georgie plugs in an old landline phone at her mother’s house and discovers that she can use it to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts… Is that what she’s supposed to do? Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage had never happened at all? This was fine. It passed the time well enough. I really didn’t understand what young Georgie saw in Neal though, or why it took older Neal so long to get fed up. The best character was Georgie’s sister Heather – I loved her! 3 stars.

A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong (Rockton #2). When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. But she wasn’t expecting Rockton to come with its own set of secrets and dangers. Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff’s deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who’s been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it’s an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that… before another victim goes missing. I liked book 1 in this series so much that I immediately bought the second one. I’m really enjoying the unusual setting of these books. This one was maybe a little too long but it was still compelling. The whole atmosphere and what happened to Nicole was chilling. I definitely want to read book three. 4 stars.

The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris. Whatever happens, don’t tell anyone what you did to Bee Larkham… Thirteen-year-old Jasper is not an ordinary boy. In fact, he would say he is extraordinary.. Synaesthesia paints the sounds of his world in a kaleidoscope of colours that no one else can see. But on Friday, he discovered a new colour – the colour of murder. He’s convinced that something awful has happened to his neighbour, Bee Larkham, but no-one else seems to be taking it as seriously as they should be. The knife and the screams are all mixed up in his head and he’s scared that he can’t quite remember anything clearly. It doesn’t help that he also has face blindness and relies on other clues – like clothes and voices – to figure out who people are. But if his dad is right then where is Bee? Why hasn’t she come home yet? Jasper must uncover the truth about that night – including his own role in what happened… Another book that I forgot to write a review of at the time so I’m relying on my memory. I thought I was going to love this book, but reading things from Jasper’s perspective turned out to be a really frustrating. In addition to synaesthesia and face blindness, Jasper is also autistic and doesn’t really understand the world around him. He’s an interesting character and I genuinely liked him but his various conditions meant the book was very repetitive and it seemed to take forever to move on from one scene to the next. Every time I thought there were going to be answers the story would skip to something unrelated. 3 stars.

Luster by Raven Leilani. Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. No one seems to care that she doesn’t really know what she’s doing with her life beyond looking for her next hook-up. When she gets involved with Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist whose wife has semi-agreed to an open marriage, Edie doesn’t expect to end up living in his home, providing advice to the couple’s adopted black daughter, while finally having the chance to do the one thing that means most to her: to finally document her own life on canvas. This book reminded me of Queenie, but I liked Queenie better. Not that this one was terrible. Parts of it were good, but I found the writing really, really odd. For instance, Edie describes her lover’s wife as being “sexy in the way a triangle is sexy” which just makes no sense whatsoever! 3 stars.

November

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust. Sixteen-year-old Mina is motherless, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone – has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d never realised that wasn’t normal normal. How could she have guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass? When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother. At fifteen, Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do – and who to be – to either win back the only mother she’s ever known… or else defeat her once and for all. I enjoyed this book. It’s quite slow and I can see why some people might find it boring but I didn’t. I liked that the step-mother is not portrayed as simply evil. It manages to recognisably be the tale of Snow White while at the same time turning everything on its head. Mina is an intriguing character and I found the relationship between Mina and Lynet really interesting. 4 stars.

December

Frenemies by Megan Crane. Gus Curtis has been avoiding growing up for a long time. But at almost thirty, official adulthood is just around the corner. It’s okay though – with a strong career, great friends, and a wonderful boyfriend, Gus feels like her life is finally on track. That is, until she walks in on her “Mr Right”, Nate, kissing her former college room mate and so-called “friend” Helen. Determined to win back her man, Gus drinks far too much, indulges in some ad hoc karaoke and loses what’s left of her dignity in a series of public slanging matches. Before long, even her loyal friends have had enough and she’s finding consolation in the arms of the one boy she really should have stayed away from… I found this in a free bookcase and I’m not sure why I took it with me. I thought it would be a quick, easy read and I was at least right about that. It’s fairly typical “chick lit” but the writing isn’t great. I thought Gus was a complete idiot and acted younger than 30 – the way she went on you would have thought she was still *in* college! Like why was she trying to win her ex back while he was still with her supposed friend?! So much unnecessary drama. I did like Henry though. He saved the book for me and bumped it up from 1 star to 2.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem – after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. And she just can’t bring herself to write another happy ending. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, refuses to give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlour, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Then her editor turns up at the door of the funeral parlour… just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, but now, apparently, a ghost. And he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. Romance is most certainly dead.. but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories. This was a lot of fun to read and it quotes The Princess Bride, which is definitely one way to my heart! Some things didn’t make sense – like why was Florence mercilessly teased and ostracised to the extent that she left and never came back in a town that has a golden retriever as mayor and a non-binary person running a B&B where the doors to the rooms features pictures of deadly plants? Surely Florence was the exact right kind of quirky to fit right in? Never mind. Florence’s family was awesome and her relationship with them felt so genuine, but I would have liked to see more of them grieving. Florence was the only one who really seemed to care – the others were almost too much “business as usual” (quite literally considering they owned the very funeral home that was dealing with everything). But it’s fun, quirky (almost too quirky at times) and a fast read. 3.5 stars.

Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie). Returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, Joan Scudamore finds herself unexpectedly alone – stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. This sudden solitude compels Joan to assess her life for the first time ever and face up to many of the truths about herself. Looking back over the years, Joan painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships and actions and becomes increasingly uneasy about the person who is revealed to her, and she begins to question everything she has ever believed. It’s a testament to Agatha Christie’s talent that a book where so little happens makes you want to keep reading. I was fascinated by the main character. As someone who is constantly questioning what people really think of me I’m very intrigued by people who can take everything at face value and assume that everyone likes them and everything they’ve ever done has been the right thing! 4 stars.

That’s it. 12 books in four months, a mere two of which were by BAME/BIPOC writers.

Now I can draw a line under last year’s reading and finally move on to 2023. I’m hoping to have a little more time to read this year since I will have roughly an hour and a half each day between finishing work and picking Zyma up from nursery (at least until she inevitably picks up her next cold…)

Have you read any of these? Let me know whether you agree with my opinions!

What I read in August 2022

I almost only read two books in August because the second one took me so long to finish. But then I snuck in one more over the course of two evenings right at the end of the month.

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena. Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there… and Fred and Sheila Merton are certainly rich. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. After a fraught Easter dinner with their family, the Mertons are brutally murdered. Their three adult children are devastated, of course. Or are there? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother. Could one of the siblings is more disturbed than anyone knew? Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you’d know… wouldn’t you? I’ve wanted to read this book for a while so I was very pleased to spot it in a free public bookcase! Not a single character in this book is likeable – except maybe the nanny. All the Merton family are liars, and that’s just their good side! The result is a tangled web of suspicion with all manner of twists and turns. I can’t exactly say I figured out who the murderer was because I think I suspected every character at one point or another. One downside is that it gets a little repetitive as things are rehashed from different character’s points of view. I enjoyed the very end – the last line is utterly delightful. 4 stars.

A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe. Fourteen-year-old Sante isn’t sure where she comes from. She was just a baby when she was washed ashore in a sea-chest laden with treasures. Mama Rose, leader of a nomadic group of misfits and gypsies, found and raised Sante, alongside twins, knife-thrower Cat and snake-charmer Cobra. They travel around contemporary southern Europe, living off-grid and performing circus tricks for money.During a performance in Cadiz, Sante recognises two men from a recurring dream she has about the shipwreck. They’ve come for her treasure, but they also have secrets to reveal about Sante’s past. After Sante and Cat rescue a beautiful red-head named Scarlett from a gang, Mama Rose’s band are forced to flee the city, but Sante and Cobra stay behind, determined to find out more about who Sante really is. some reason I thought this was a children’s book but it’s very definitely YA featuring themes of sex trafficking among others! I really enjoyed parts of the plot. I loved Sante and her golden eagle Priss. But it felt like the author was trying to fit in too many different themes: Sante’s search for her identity, magical realism elements, refugees, sex trafficking, all the circus characters, so it unfortunately ended up being confusing and a lot of the side characters seemed flat. 3 stars.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan. When Leigh’s mother dies by suicide she leaves behind a scribbled note – I want you to remember. Remember what? Leigh has no idea. She wishes she could turn to her best friend, Axel, for advice. If only she hadn’t kissed him and messed everything up between them. The Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, discovers she has grandparents she’s never met and travels to Taiwan to meet them for the first time. There, she retreats into art and memories, ending up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and ultimately forging a new relationship with her grandparents. I really enjoyed this book. The writing is excellent, although the style is definitely not for everyone (I enjoyed it though) and I can’t believe it’s a debut! I really enjoyed the insights into Taiwanese culture and Leigh is a fantastic character. It is a fast read but there seemed to be a lot going on and it almost felt like the main grief plot was being sidelined at times with high school drama (told in flashbacks). Leigh seems to have some form of synaesthesia and while the colour metaphors were interesting at times it was too much. I didn’t need to know the colour of every single word Leigh’s best friend/love interest uttered! That makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book but I actually very much did. There is a magical realism element that probably won’t appeal to everyone but it didn’t bother me at all. 4 stars.

Total books read: 3. Books by BAME/BIPOC authors: 2 (hooray, finally more than zero).

So far this month I’ve mostly been cross stitching but I’ve already managed a couple of books and I’m hoping to get through at least two more.

What I read in June & July 2022

The ending of the Show Us Your Books link up meant I completely forgot to review the books I read in June. Luckily there were only two – followed by five in July – so I can just shove two months into one post.

The Hidden Cottage by Erica James. Mia Channing seems to have the perfect life. A beautiful home, a happy marriage, a job she loves and three grown-up children to whom she’s devoted. But appearances can be deceptive. When the family gathers for her son’s 30th birthday, he brings with him his latest girlfriend who, they are surprised to learn, has a nine-year-old daughter. Then, before the birthday cake has even been cut, Mia’s youngest daughter Daisy seizes the opportunity to drop a bombshell. It’s an evening that marks a turning point in all their lives, when old resentments and regrets surface and the carefully ordered world Mia has created begins to unravel. This was fine. Kind of predictable and the writing style annoyed me at times but it was a fairly easy read for its length. I loved nine-year-old Madison but found some of the other characters a bit underdeveloped. I think there were too many of them. 2.5 stars. Also, is it just me or does The Hidden Cottage sound like the title of a Famous Five book?

The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. For Susan Green, messy emotions simply don’t fit into the equation of her perfectly ordered life. She is in complete control at all times, with a flat that is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic, and an “interpersonal arrangement” that provides cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is realised. She is losing control. When she learns that her mother’s will inexplicably favours her immature and irresponsible brother, Edward, Susan is determined that she must do something about it. But as her due date draws near and her family problems become increasingly difficult to ignore, Susan finds help and self-discovery in the most unlikely of places. I actually kind of liked the story in this book and wanted to know what happened at the end, but the main character completely ruined it for me. I assume she’s supposed to be a damaged person who struggles to connect with “normal” people a la Eleanor Oliphant but actually she’s insufferable and honestly just plain mean. Unlike Eleanor it felt like she knew perfectly well she was being mean no matter how much she tried to pass it off as being direct/honest. The romance is ridiculous – it goes from barely even friends to “I’m totally in love with you and want to help you raise your baby” in about 2 pages. I actually liked Rob as a character, just the romance made no sense! 2.5 stars.

So, that was June. A slightly disappointing month… And zero out of two books were by BIPOC/BAME authors. On to July…

Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins. When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master’s Lodging – an eerie and ancient house – a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, still grieving her dead mother. But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent? Some things didn’t make sense and I found the ending predictable but overall I really enjoyed this book. It’s very suspenseful. I especially liked the character of Linklater and the descriptions of Oxford’s old cemeteries. 4 stars.

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh. Do I really need to write a synopsis for this one? Does anyone not know what it is? Allie Brosh’s second graphic novel in which she again tells stores from her own life including tales from her childhood, the adventures of her very bad animals and merciless dissection of her own character flaws. She also talks about the awful experiences that resulted in this book being delayed for so long. I found parts of the book hilarious – especially the stories about her childhood – while others were heart breaking. It seems so unfair that so many bad things have happened to one person while others seem to live a completely charmed life. Not all the stories resonated with me and I didn’t love it as much as Hyperbole and a Half but I still really, really liked it. 4 stars.

City of the Lost by Kelly Armstong (Rockton #1). Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday her crime will catch up to her. Casey’s best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana’s husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it’s time for the two of them to disappear again. Diana has heard of a town especially for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton, and if you’re accepted it means walking away from your old life entirely, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada. No cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. As a murderer, Casey isn’t a good candidate, but she has something they want: She’s a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realises that the identity of a murderer isn’t the only secret Rockton is hiding… and she starts to wonder if she and Diana might actually be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives. This is a very different kind of police procedural – the setting alone changes things and makes for a very suspenseful atmosphere. And there were at least two twists that I was not expecting. I will definitely be continuing this series. 4 stars.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa. Rintaro Natsuki loves Natsuki Books, his grandfather’s tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. It’s the perfect refuge for a teenage boy who tends to be somewhat of a recluse. When his grandfather dies suddenly, Rintaro is left devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to embark on three magical adventures to save books from people have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone… This is definitely one for book lovers! It’s very quotable and reads almost like a love letter to the power of books/reading. It’s utterly bizarre in the way only Japanese fiction can be and I feel like I didn’t understand all of it but I did enjoy it. It’s also a very quick read – I finished the entire thing in one day, during two of my daughter’s naps. 4 stars,

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross (The Laundry Files #1). Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob’s under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe – but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, parallel universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than a full system reboot to sort this mess out… This book is based on the premise that “magic” and parallel universes, demons, etc. exist in our world, but it’s not actually magic… it’s all based on maths and computing. I did actually mostly enjoy the storyk, but the unfortunately the maths parts went completely over my head, which meant it took me ages to finish and spoiled it a bit for me. I would never have bought this book (it was a gift years ago) and don’t intend to continue the series, but it’s not actually bad. Just really not right for me! 3 stars.

In July I read 5 books, one of which was by a BAME/BIPOC author.

We’re now over a week into August and I’ve yet to finish a single book, so we’ll see whether it’s even necessary for me to try and remember to post next month! In the meantime let me know if you’ve read anything good recently.