Love the humour, and love the pairing of Sherman and Watson but this one fell flat compared to Book 2 - the case just wasn't nearly as strong or interesting. That won't stop me from eagerly listening to Book 4 when/if it comes out though!

4.25* 

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael O'Mara Limited for an eARC of "The Secret Library" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review. 

This revised edition of a 2016 release is a lighthearted wander through literary history packed with interesting literary facts and funny anecdotes. It meanders chronologically starting with ancient literature and bringing us up to date and reads like a series of vignettes making it easy to dip in and out of at your pleasure. 

I really enjoyed the variety of mini essays on offer and appreciated the introductions of early women writers including Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.

Overall, a book for booklovers that is entertaining light reading with many facts and titbits that'll make you want to pick it up multiple times without fear of having to read a full book each time.

This re-release is published on March 28th 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo/Hera for an eARC of "Estella's Revenge" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Great Expectations is one of my favourite Dickens stories. Atmospheric, gothic with incredibly memorable and iconic characters, so when I saw that Barbara Havelocke was giving us a chance to dig deeper into Estella's story I knew that I needed to read it and I wasn't disappointed.

In this dual timeline novel we split our time between Estella's youth and her present as she starts out married life to the despicable Drummle. She has been bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold by jilted bride and mother Miss Havisham and as she realises that her deal with Drummle won't quite follow her plan she moves towards vengeance whilst battling to decide if she should fully embrace the darkness within. 

The setting and atmosphere of this novel is spot on. It's gothic, dark and moody, perfectly suiting our characters, the story and the classic Satis House. The writing is beautiful, tragic and full of intrigue which keeps you turning the page wanting to see how this tale unfolds.

This is not simply a re-telling of Great Expectations. As with many of the feminist re-tellings of Greek myths we've been seeing, this is a woman finding her voice, her identity and her power.

Fans of Fyneshade will identify a lot of Marta in Estella and will enjoy the same complex and immersive type of tale and fans of bad men getting what's due to them will also enjoy this gothic, historical fiction.

4.25* 

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House for a digital review copy of "Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

I wanted to check out this sequel to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone because I liked the fresh take and highly meta approach taken in that first book. At times it didn't work for me but this time I would say that Benjamin Stevenson has nailed the approach and narrative voice and for me it was better than the first book!

In this second instalment, set shortly after the first, our fourth wall-breaking narrator, Ernest, has been invited to a crime writers convention on a luxury train travelling the length of Australia. However, amongst the myriad of writers and fans he finds himself caught up in effectively a locked room murder mystery when one of the keynote speakers is killed and it's a race against time to solve the case before more victims are claimed.

I really enjoyed the case, the perspectives and the secrets unravelled in this story and felt that Ernest's character was much better balanced this time. Maybe it's because I read the first one and was used to it, but this time the direct commentary felt less jarring to me as a reader and I definitely felt more invested in keeping up with the clues and mini spoilers provided throughout. Despite everything being given to us I still didn't guess the who or the why and felt very satisfied with the denouement.

My main reason for a 4.25 instead of higher is that I did feel that the story was a little drawn out in places and for me took a while to get going. By the half way mark I was fully all in but it took a little while for me to get there. Despite that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and I will definitely be reading more - after all, after struggling with his second novel how on earth is Ernest going to handle a trilogy, I'm so intrigued?!!

Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect is released on February 29th 2024

This is a spot on retelling of 1984 from the perspective of Julia, giving us broader insight into how life potentially could have been for women in Orwells London. Newman clearly studied the original text inside and out, utilising throw away scenes (Winston kicking away a hand after a bomb blast) to give us broader commentary on society and general life.
There were a couple of stylistic choices I didn't like which didn't quite make it a 5* - mainly the coarseness of inner dialogue around sex and the female body. I understand why but it felt out of place for me considering the strength of writing elsewhere.
Despite that I still loved it. 1984 is one of my favourite books of all time and I love the connections we get in this book and how much of an addition it feels to the source material.

Didn't like the characters or writing style, most of the twists were telegraphed and I'd figured them out within the first third. Skipped half of the book to see how it wrapped up.

Didn't work for me but definitely a good holiday read for someone.