📖 Detransition, Baby

✏️ Torrey Peters

📍 New York

👥 Reese. Amy/Ames. Kristina.

📎 Contemporary Fiction

“If you are a trans girl who knows many other trans girls, you go to church a lot, because church is where they hold the funerals.”

I really don’t know what I think of this book. On the one hand, I learnt a lot about the transgender community - something I knew very little about before - and that was really interesting and eye-opening to read. On the other, the plot didn’t really go anywhere. But I don’t think it’s supposed to be plot-driven… so I’ve mulled on it for a couple of days to see if I can come up with something more articulate than the above… which I haven’t. So yeah.

📖 Heartsick: Three Stories Of Falling In Love… & What Happens After It Ends

✏️ Jessie Stephens

📍London (UK), Toowoomba, Sydney, Perth & Durnham (Australia)

👥 Ana. Rob. Claire. Maggie. Patrick. Caitlin.

📎 Non-Fiction

“The world is full of broken people who have put themselves back together. Love is magic and heartbreak is the price we pay.”

I picked this up as a 99p Kindle Daily Deal a week or so ago as the premise intrigued me. Heartbreak is universal but as a human experience, not one that is widely spoken about in serious terms. Jessie Stephens looks to articulate this through the stories of three real people: Ana, Claire and Patrick. I found it a quick, relatable read.

📖 Maame

✏️ Jessica George

📍London

👥 Maddie/Maame. James. Nia. Shu. Sam. 

📎 Contemporary Fiction

e-ARC from NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 14Feb23

“How do you know if you’re genuinely happy or if you’re just mostly all right, with sprinkles of laughter and occasional shit storms of sadness thrown in?”

Sometimes you read a new release and you immediately know it’s going to be one of the books of the year. Maame is one of those books and I fully anticipate seeing it on many lists and bookseller’s tables for the foreseeable. I will certainly be recommending it to anyone that will listen.

Meet Maddie, who carries the nickname Maame in her Ghanaian family. A term of endearment and love, but also of huge responsibility. Maddie carries so much at such a young age - physically, financially, emotionally. The book tells of her breaking free of some of these responsibilities - an action that is liberating but also carries guilt and a good degree of loss and confusion as she tries to figure out who she is on her own. It’s heartbreaking in places but utterly stunning to follow. Go buy. 

📖 Book Lovers 

✏️ Emily Henry

📍Sunshine Falls (NC) & New York

👥 Nora Stephens. Charlie Lastra.

📎 Contemporary Romance

“I do not like him. If I’m the archetypal City Person, he is the Dour, Unappeasable, Stick-in-the-Mud. He’s the Growly Misanthrope, Oscar the Grouch, second-act Heathcliff, the worst parts of Mr. Knightley.”

Buddy read with: @booksbooksandbookmarks

@snapshot.intime

@ms_y_are_you_reading

So. I read People We Meet On Vacation/You & Me On Vacation last year and I absolutely loved it. It was my first Emily Henry read and I immediately added everything else of hers to my TBR and pre-ordered Happy Place. That, alongside all of the hype Book Lovers got last year, probably meant I had higher expectations than I potentially should have had going into it.

It’s a good book. It’s a nice story. The main characters are easy to root for as flawed weirdos that so many of us can relate to. It has a bit of spice and it has a bit of humour. But I couldn’t get excited about it and I actually fell behind the buddy read plan. 

It did get me wondering what makes some bestselling romances click with me, when others fall flat. What made The Spanish Love Deception scrape 3 stars but Things We Never Got Over one of my stand out reads of 2022. I don’t know whether it’s about connecting with the lead female or fancying the lead male (Knox Morgan, will you marry me?) 🤣 I’ll keep exploring that theory. 

So a little underwhelmed. I will still read her other stuff but maybe sense check my expectations at the door.

📖 Lady MacBethad

✏️ Isabelle Schuler 

📍Fife, Burghead, Dunkeld & Scone

👥 Gruoch/Groa. MacBethad. Duncan. Sinna. Lulach. Donalda. Adair. Ardith.

📎 Historical Fiction

e-ARC from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Date: 02Mar23

“When shall we meet again?

In thunder, lighting or in rain?

When the chaos has come and gone,

When the battle’s lost and won;

There shall we meet MacBeth.”

An intriguing look at the backstory of one of Shakespeare’s most famous female characters, Lady MacBeth. Notorious for her ruthlessness and ambition, Isabelle Schuler gives the character context and motive amidst the turbulent politics of 11th century Scotland. 

Scone Palace, the Crowning Place of Scottish Kings and the centre of power in the ancient Kingdom of Alba lies a couple of miles from where I stay and I particularly enjoyed the scene setting for the novel’s key locations which is done very well.

The story is well written, the character development is strong and there are several twists and turns throughout. I really liked it and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction from this era.

📖 Honor

✏️ Thrity Umrigar

📍Mumbai & Birwad (India)

👥 Smita. Mohan. Meena. Abru. Abdul.

📎 Contemporary Fiction

“Everywhere she went, it seemed, it was open season on women. Rape, female genital mutilation, bride burnings, domestic abuse - everywhere, in every country, women were abused, isolated, silenced, imprisoned, controlled, punished, and killed. Sometimes, it seemed to Smita that the history of the world was written in female blood.”

Powerful, enraging, unforgettable. I cannot put into words how deeply affecting this book is. It centres around the story of Meena - a Hindu woman who’s crime it was to fall in love and marry a Muslim man. He is burned alive by her brothers and she survives with life-changing and disfiguring injuries. Smita, a journalist born in India but living in the US since the age of 14 visits Meena to cover the story of her fight for justice. There is so much in this book to feel angry about but there is also light and beauty - an India of two halves. It will stay with me for a very long time.

📖 Firekeeper’s Daughter

✏️ Angeline Boulley

📍Sault Ste. Marie (MI) & Sugar Island

👥 Daunis. Lily. Jamie. Levi. Ron. Auntie Teddie. Mom. Uncle David. Granny June. 

📎 YA Mystery Thriller

“I’m reminded that our Elders are our greatest resource, embodying our culture and community. Their stories connect us to our language, medicines, land, clans, songs, and traditions. They are bridge between the Before and the Now, guiding those of us that will carry on in the Future.”

This has been on my radar for quite a while but it always looked a bit chunky on my shelf. It’s pacing however makes it read as easily as a book half its size.

It’s a real page-turner… I learned so much about Native American culture… There are several strong, beautiful and fiercely protective female characters… I really enjoyed this one ❤️