A very insightful and enjoyable medical memoir and actually found myself enjoying this even more than his other book.

The medical cases in this book provided a more “Sherlock-Holmes” insight into the mysteries hidden in the body which made it very intriguing to listen to.

I really enjoyed the writing style which showed an almost beautiful and intricate view on the body during postmortem rather than a sad or gruesome affair. 

Another strong factor to point out is the level of vulnerability Dr.Shepherd goes into about not only his own health struggles but of those of loved ones and how it has impacted his life.

Despite the methodological structures of the book through death at different ages, the only thing I’ll say is in some places I did find myself disconnecting with the audio book and becoming a bit lost which is the only reason I have not rated it 5 stars. 

Overall a very solid book.

Having really enjoyed the family upstairs towards the start of the year had high hopes picking up this book but was left disappointed.

I think my main issue with this book is that it didn't really add to much to the original story. Whilst we got a deeper insight into the characters, the plot line itself outside what is already told in the original book fell flat for me.  

There wasn’t anything to keep me hooked which didn’t help when the pacing already felt quite slow.

Overall whilst I like the writing style still and there were some points that caught intrigue… I don’t think it added anything worthwhile from the first book. Perhaps the family upstairs should have stuck as a standalone. 

As I’ve found when reading Harlan Coben’s books, I was hooked very early on and the fast pace nature of the book made it a one day read for me. 

Parts 1 and 2 were great, filled with some great mystery, bit of action and interesting plot and character developments. I enjoyed how much more real it felt - particularly how spot on the FBI detectives were with sussing out lies and not being easily fooled as happens in many other mystery books. Put simply, none thing in the plot felt like it came too easily or convient which i appreciated. 

Parts 3 however fell a bit flat for me. I am unsure whether it was the tangent into this old mob style backstory which felt a bit out of place - though I understand its purpose for the plot. I also think the end resolve wasn’t my favourite. Given the various POVs for the story a lot of the twist ends felt a bit anticlimactic as you already knew what was going to be revealed by another POV before it happened. 

That being said, though I did enjoy it - I feel some of his other work felt … smarter for a mystery. 

As romantic-comedies go there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it but also nothing over special either.

Very much the run of the mill slow burn friends to lovers romance, however did appreciate the Indian heritage and dynamics being intwined which made it different to other books I have read of a similar nature.

The let down for me I think is that I wasn’t partially invested in the characters and didn’t really feel there was any major character development which was a shame.  I think this is less to do with the plot of the book and more of the reparative phrasing in the writing style.

Not a bad read necessarily but for a 10hr audio book…it wouldn’t be a Rom-com I’d look to pick up again. 

I am insanely in love with this book that it is hard to put into words a review that can justify how enamoured I am by it!

First and foremost, the prose of this book is simply beautiful. I was completely encapsulated in the writing style which left me feeling immersed in rich greek mythology. 

The romance between Achilles and Patroclus was perfectly written and can clearly see the bond grow so organically and shift throughout the course of their story. A genuine connection forge that didn’t just feel like a “lust at first sight”. 

All the characters were complex and interesting, as we see their character arch’s develop and shape them.

Seeing how the accidental death Patroclus caused plaguing him to want to avoid all violence, to the ego and arrogance shifting the morality of Achilles.

The pacing of the plot had me hooked throughout and though I’m a sucker for a Greek mythology re-telling stories … this one has shot to the top as one of my favourites! 

An absolute must read in my opinion! 

Had I not needed to read this for my A-Z book challenge I absolutely would have DNF’d.

This is the classic case whereby the core principle and themes of the book held such high promise. The approach of women being silenced and controlled had so much potential which is the only reason I’m not rating as a 1 but the rest of the book was an absolute flop!

Firstly the actual writing style did not work for me, despite the faster paced nature of the plot - the writing incredibly clunky and regularly went off on tangents making it such hard work to actually push the core storyline along. It felt like having 6 conversations at the same time!

After the first 20% or so I found myself disliking pretty much every single character including the MFC which didn’t help at all.

The cheating and pregnancy felt wrongly romanticised for the MFC as well as this idea that she would debate leaving her kids … I just didn’t enjoy her at all.

Another issue I had with the writing is often the same point was rehashed out constantly without any real development which made it feel really one note. Whilst other moments which could of had stronger longer lasting impacts on the characters and their stories felt almost brushed over -

like the neighbours suicide attempt or finding out her husband is supporting the resistance.

The plot itself was okay but the ending felt really rushed and actually in the end felt like the MFC action/active contribution to the end resolve was practically none existent. 

Clearly this author is not for me and personally I’d advise anyone with this on their TBR to cross it off as it’s absolutely not worth it. 

Before all else, I have to commend Hadley Vlahos for the vulnerability she has shared in this memoir. Beyond the impact of patient care has had on her development as a person but on much more personal experiences. 

I will say I don’t think I was as emotionally hard hit as some other reasons but perhaps as I am not a spiritual person per se maybe they didn’t resonate with me as much. 

A solid memoir in the stories told though they all follow very much the same pattern which I suppose is to be expected - but I had hoped for a bit more depth on the patients themselves perhaps and less of the ‘life lesson’ and spirituality around death. 

Glad I finally got round to listening and is worth a read though can’t see myself picking up again in future. 

Similar to their other book Thornhedge, this applies such a great twist on the classic fantasy fairytale characters that I really admired and enjoyed.

The premise itself was very clever and the characters themselves were loveable and provided a great balance of humour and intrigue throughout.

The only reason I can’t rate higher than 4 stars is though I really enjoyed Marra’s character, I wish she had a more active role in the final conflict as she fell very much on the sideline - though this does make sense for the plot just feel a bit flat as the main protagonist. 

Overall a very enjoyable read and would definitely see myself reading again and recommending as a great little standalone. 

As my third Alice Feeney book I can say though I did really enjoy this read, it isn’t as gripping or dark as her other books which was a shame.

That being said, Alice knows how to create the air of mystery and once I got my head wrapped around the different POVs and trying to work out how they intersect and was happy to say I didn’t guess the twist which is ideal for a mystery.

Though the ending did feel a bit lacklustre and would have loved something a bit sharper… I always really enjoy how Alice writes her characters and their emotional conflicts. So whilst this may not have been the plot for me, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her other work. 

Really disappointed in this read to be honest.  The first 30% was slow, dull and only started to pick up the pace at around the 33% mark at which point I decided rather than DNF I would push through in hopes the story would improve… it did not.

My main issue with this book is that I did not enjoy a single character in this book. Elin - the main character was frustrating and didn’t really develop or grow in anyway. All the other characters were also incredibly one note and unlikeable in a way that I don’t believe was always the intention. 

For a mystery, I felt like there was no build of tension and characters felt like they were dropped and forgotten to only be picked up again when  convenient to tie up loose ends.

Overall the book gave the impression that the author was making it up as they went along without a clear idea on how it would end - leading to an ending that I didn’t care for. 

The rape, abortion and revenge plot and then flagging the  sanatorium history as pretty much a red herring - felt clunky and rushed. For me it felt as though the author just picked shocking themes  and threw it in at the end for shock over a well throughout out or clever plot resolution.

Overall, I wish I had saved myself the 400+ pages of reading and DNF’d.