bookswithlydscl's Reviews (639)

This was a really strong collection of 16 short stories all focused around the theme of food that worked well as a collection but I found with a number of them that they felt a little too short - I wanted more story!

Overall really enjoyed the speculative / scifi / dystopian nature of the collection and is one that I would come back to in future to dip in and out of

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press | Rare Machines for a digital review copy of "Devouring Tomorrow" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Really enjoyed this and definitely shows I'm a fan of Butler's writing.
Didn't get as emotionally invested in this one as I did Kindred but still really liked it.

This was fine. I wonder if I made a mistake listening to it instead if reading it and may try it again in future because I'd heard such great things about it and was really looking forward to reading it.

What didn't help was the number of characters and number if time skips. I didn't connect to anyone aside of Judy and the timeskips made it a messy experience.

One of my guiltiest reading pleasures is the ritzy, glitzy vacation thriller genre. I love seeing the twisted, corrupt and ever so glamourous lives of the characters who, after arriving in isolated, paradise settings end up getting their comeuppance in a series of fun and inventive ways. 

The Private Island by Ali Lowe ticks every one of those boxes and was a really fun read (highly reminiscent of elements of one of my favourite films of all time - the 1982 Peter Ustinov adaptation of Evil Under The Sun). There is no subtlety on offer, the key characters you hope will end up victims do and they do feel like exaggerations of the worst tropes found in this style of books but it does make the victim reveals all that much sweeter when it happens!

Pick this up ready for your poolside holiday read and I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this digital review copy of "The Private Island" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Gorgeous writing and illustrations but it remained the barebones of a story - needed to be longer

Just wasn't connecting with it

4.5*

Having read The Old Man and The Sea last year and loved it I was pleasantly surprised at how Hemingwayesque this story felt. This though, is the story of one man's battle with a much more existential beast - fear. 

Set in the years before Jaws but absolutely influenced by it, this is wholly Quint's story. Robert Shaw's mesmerising monologue of the sinking of the Indianapolis is felt deeply in the bones of this book and the chapters that focus on the sinking are horrific, moving and very people focused rather than being thrill focused.

This is not a thriller despite being inspired by one of the greatest horrors of all time. This instead is a fantastic 1st person narrative, semi-stream of consciousness literary fiction that gives you a deeper introduction to a gruff  troubled, difficult, and iconic character. 

Don't expect any soft edges, the Quint of the movie is the Quint of the book and that no nonsense and direct perspective means that the events we experience in the book feel all that more stark and impactful.

Highly recommend the audiobook - the narrator is highly reminiscent of Robert Shaw and sounds like a true fisherman.

Welcome to St Nonnatus Primary School  where the headmistress is dead, the circumstances are suspicious, there are only four viable suspects and as every parent knows, being on the school group chat can be murder.

There is so much promise with the premise of this story and as soon as I saw it was described as the mixed media style of Janice Hallett meeting the humour of Richard Osman in a primary school setting I knew I needed to read it. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. It really was fun to start with but felt too long for the plot so once I got to half way I started to get frustrated that the story was being stretched so much to fill the page count. There were also too many characters who had very light characterisations (predominantly stereotypes of the kinds of people you find in a typical UK playground) which all felt quite superfluous for me.

Despite this I did enjoy the humour, the mixed media use and the premise overall and it really is a quick read overall, I just wish it had been shorter and tighter in its character use and plot.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for this digital review copy of "That'll Teach Her" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

It was well written just not the kind of book for me.

Spoilt this month (feb 2025) - a second 5* book. A tough read but loved it - incredible writing & story but was so angry & sad at the same time. Between this & There Are Rivers In The Sky I've been so lucky experiencing such powerful, beautiful & difficult stories in such quick succession