bookbeforeuleap's Reviews (863)

After reading 'Call me Star Girl' by this author I knew I wanted to read more of her work and after meeting Louise at the Orenda Road Show and hearing her read an extract of this I knew I HAD to read this book!!

This is the story of Chloe Dee, a theatre usher who longs to be on stage but feels she is not good enough, that she is one of those blend into a crowd kind of girls and not a leading lady. She is working in a theatre where she first saw the musical 'Dust', a musical which she knew all the words for and sparked her love for the stage but also the production where the star of the show was murdered on the fourth night! Now, 20 years later, the show is coming back but is history going to repeat itself?

Let me start off by telling you that this author knows how to hook you in so if you hoping to just read a few pages before bed then just be prepared to be up all night! The chapters are short and sharp and feed you just enough information to make you NEED to read the next chapter and then just the one after that...

This book was brilliant and utterly bewitching! The characters were well though out and perfectly placed, I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense of not knowing if there was an actual magical/haunted element or if Chloe was just imagining things and I also love that Louise also really gets social media, the importance of it in today's world and yet how toxic it can be. This author does not shy away from real life issues either, a trait that I noticed in Call me Star Girl and again in this book. I really appreciate that the character's flaws and and mental illness are not glossed over or romanticised for the reader.

This is a fantastic book and the second one of Louise Beeches books to blow me away (is it too cheesy to say like dust?!), I have not read a bad book from this publisher either and I am adding them both to my auto buy list!

This is the story of Shakespeare's wife, her past, how she became his wife, the story of their children and how they contracted the plague.
This story shines a light on one of the many forgotten women in history and I love the way it flips history on its head to make Shakespeare the inconsequential character, so much so that he is never even named within the book, instead he is referred to as brother, husband, father etc.
It is the story of grief told in the most, raw, descriptive lyrical style steeped in copious period detail. The tale of passage of the flea that brought the disease to the family was utterly captivating. I will not be able to hear of Hamlet without thinking of this tale now.
O’Farrell has a magical way with words, she completely transported me in the time and life of her characters and the way she writes maternal love (in this and in her memoir, I am I am I am) is incredible! This was a fantastic piece of historical fiction and I would be very surprised if it didn’t make the women’s prize short list.

The story moves back and forth between Vanessa’s past and present. A past where she enters a relationship with a teach 25+ years her senior and a present where people are trying to get her to talk about that relationship. In no way is this an easy read, in fact half the time I found my self squirming in my seat at some of the prose, but it was also fascinating and un-put-downable.

For me it felt like the novel was possibly a Lolita from the girl’s point of view, maybe to the males she comes across as bold, confident and sexy but inside is a minefield and her actions towards men have been bread from her early interactions. Had she not been involved with an older professor would she have behaved the way she did with other men, would her life have been the same, is there something dark inside her? This book makes you really question what’s going on and whether, at 15, she can really say that she did want it.

“I never would have done it if you weren’t so willing,” he’d said. It sounds like delusion. What girl would want what he did to me? But it’s the truth, whether anyone believes it or not."

There is no doubting that she is a very astute and mature 15-year-old, but does that mean she fully understood what she was getting involved in? Does that make her less of a victim?
‘…I wasn’t pretty, I’d have to wait a long time before anyone noticed me because boys had to mature before they cared about anything else. In the meantime, apparently my only option was to wait. Like girls sitting in the bleachers at basketball games watching boys play, or girls sitting on the couch watching boys play video games. Endless waiting. It’s funny to think how wrong Mom was about all that. Because there’s another option for those brave enough to take it—bypass boys altogether, go straight to men. Men will never make you wait, men who are starved and grateful for scraps of attention, who fall in love so hard they throw themselves at your feet. ‘

I also feel that this novel comes at a pivotal time, when there are allegations flying, and asks some serious questions, is there any point in coming forward now, what will it achieve, is it beneficial to the individual to relive it all in such a public way? Not only does it ask these questions, it reminds us that every person is different and while some may need to expose it in order to get over it for others it may well just break them.

I can see this being absolutely huge next year, it will divide or unite people and will absolutely be all anyone is talking about. Thanks to Net Galley & 4th Estate for my ARC copy of this book.

I absolutely adored this book and couldn’t wait to share with with my son at bed time!! The illustrations were beautiful and I enjoyed the story, rhyming and use of opposites within the book.

This story was brilliantly detailed and thought through. I enjoyed that it rhymed and thought the story it’s self was very engaging. It’s more for an older child as it’s quite long but has a great message.

This was a quick and easy to read book despite covering a multitude of serious issues such as addiction, obesity and mental illness. I didn't initially warm to the main character but I could see why she was the way she was and she definitely won me over by the end. I did however really like her Uncle. I thought he really made the story.

The book has a great message about trying to find yourself and be comfortable in your own skin! I particularly liked the pretty woman moment in the mall in America, I want to shout out 'you go girl!' as I was reading it!

I enjoyed the references to the wizard of Oz through out the book as it reminded me of childhood and added a fun layer to the story.

I was a little unsure of the writing style as one minute it was in Greta's internal voice but then seemly out of nowhere it was in another characters. I completely understand the use of this to get the others characters views across so they aren't misunderstood but it was hard to follow sometimes as I was in the flow of one character and then was reading the thoughts of another. This however could have been an issue with formatting on the kindle so once I can get out of the house I will pick up a physical copy to check this!

Thanks to @annecater and @Harpercollins for my #gifted ecopy in exchange for review.

I enjoyed making a whole new story with my son, he enjoyed pointing at different options and making the animal noises (he is only 18 months) but I cant wait to enjoy this with him when he is older as I just know he will love
picking the options and telling me why!

I really like this range of books, I read Pirate adventure with my son and so we were very excited for this one,
they are absolutely perfect for those children who love to have the same book every night but whose parents cannot take one more night reading the same words.