elementarymydear's Reviews (967)

This book had me on the edge of my seat with excitement, intrigue and nerves. It’s a brilliant blend of history and mystery (hey that rhymes!).

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I picked this book up because the setting and premise intrigued me, and it absolutely delivered! It’s an immersive depiction of pre-war Europe, with tensions running high but conflict not yet inevitable. I’ve never read any of Elizabeth Wein’s other books, but her aviation expertise makes it a seamless read.

At the centre of this we have a very mixed, very mysterious set of characters. I really like stories where a group of strangers are thrown together; it puts the reader at the same starting point as the characters themselves, and its fascinating to see how they get to know each other, and what they start to uncover about each other’s secrets and pasts. It was done particularly well here, sometimes being lead in one direction, sometimes in another.

The story is told from the perspective of Stella, who is perceptive but wary of those around her. I really felt like I was right there in the action with her, watching the events of the novel play out around me and figuring out who I could trust. I hated the times when I had to stop reading, because I was desperate to know what happened next!

This setting and premise is the perfect place to explore themes of national identity, loyalty, and bridging divides. It feels particularly poignant in this day and age to be discussing refugees and what it means to have a homeland. There were some incredibly moving moments and passages, and this book is going to be a welcome addition to many bookshelves and libraries.

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own. 

 What a brilliantly fun historical fiction!

The main character, Violet, was such a brilliant protagonist. She’s in her late twenties, sure of herself and forthright, but also painfully naïve. Her mother disappeared ten years earlier, and without a parental figure to guide her (her father is physically present but emotionally not) she has some glaring blind spots in her knowledge of the world. I’ll be honest, I was worried at the start that she was just ‘not like other girls’ but her character made perfect sense within her world and her family. What was great across the course of the novel was that she not only grew more knowledgeable about the world, but actively took those steps herself, admitting to herself that there were things she didn’t know and seeking the answers.

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The mystery element of the story was really well-balanced with the rest. While I did really like the answer to the various questions behind the mystery, the way they were resolved was quite sudden, and honestly felt like an easy way out! I think there could have been more satisfactory ways of wrapping up that particular storyline (no spoilers!). One of the reveals also had me rolling my eyes a little bit at the start, but by the end it was pretty well-executed so I did enjoy it overall.

The character-led storyline is definitely the selling point of this book for me; it’s funny and outrageous, with a little mystery to tie it all together.

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.

 

 

This is a really great continuation of the Border Magic series! We get a lot more time with the characters, which I really enjoyed, and the world was expanded in some very interesting ways.

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The major new addition from the first book is the introduction of Fenn, a being from the Outlands who has their own agenda. They were a great addition to the story, connecting the main characters to the Border in a new way.

It was lovely to see Lew and Alec’s relationship progress, although I would have liked a little more airtime for them to really see that gradual build-up happen ‘on-screen’. While we did get a fair chunk of Border-related plot, the main themes in this book were between the characters themselves, with Mira and Lew both having to make the decision as to which time period they wanted to live in.

Now that the world is a bit more established (and I was very happy that some of the more confusing elements of the first book were cleared up in this one), we also got to see how Lew copes living in the 1920s as a 21st Century man. Little details, such as how he still automatically goes outside to smoke, really helped to tie the different elements of his life together.

I can’t wait to see the conclusion of these characters’ stories in the final book!

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.

 

 Beautifully written and masterfully crafted – this book is a hidden gem!

There are so many layers to this story, and they’re woven together to create a powerful and moving story. The plot itself is a blend of mythology, fantasy, and science-fiction. Combining these elements together this well is incredibly effective. I loved the way the time zones (the cracks in time) worked, how they affected the people and creatures inside, and the way people utilise them. The whole world is so vivid and well-thought out, but never feels overwhelming with information.

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Alongside the fantastical plot elements is the main character, Sora, dealing with the grief from the loss of her mother, an ill and ageing father, and the tentative first steps of romance. Throughout the course of the book we get to know her better as she slowly lets her guard down, and her emotional arc is incredibly moving. The way all the different threads – Sora’s grief, the mythology, the fantastical – come together at the end is perfectly done.

The story grips you from the first page and doesn’t let go until long after the end. I read the whole book in one day (it would have been one sitting if I hadn’t had to go to work!) and I was taking every opportunity to pick it up and find out what happened next. It’s utterly absorbing, and packs such an emotional punch.

This book has earned all the praise and success that I am sure will come, and it has definitely secured its place as a favourite for me.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy for review. All opinions are my own.

 

 This is a three-star book for me not because it was just fine, or mediocre, but because I loved and hated it in equal parts so we came out in the middle!

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First, the things I loved. The main storyline was so wonderful, with these parallel coming out storylines within the same family. I loved how supportive Arthur’s wife was of him, and it was incredibly heart-warming to see him so afraid of taking these steps to finally live openly but finding the courage to do it anyway. Teddy’s story included navigating the shifting friendships and relationships of someone in their early twenties, which was very well depicted. The way they supported each other was key to the whole story, and it was lovely to read.

Their individual romantic sub-plots were also brilliant, and complemented each other nicely. Arthur is reminiscing about the one true love of his life, who had to leave the town they live in for his own safety back in the 60s, while Teddy is starting a tentative romance with a co-worker while oblivious to the person who truly loves him. Both storylines brought a lot to the characters and the story, and both had (of course!) a very sweet and heartfelt conclusion.

Okay, so onto the things I didn’t like. Beware, spoilers from here onwards!

Please be aware that I will be discussing suicide and domestic violence in this section.

So there I am, happily reading this feel-good story, and then out of nowhere, we have a plot line where a very minor character (who has appeared once) has killed herself. Sophia is the granddaughter of Arthur’s best friend, who has turned against him since he came out, and they reconcile at her funeral. Teddy writes an article on teen suicide prevention, which earns him respect at work and a bit of conflict with his love interest, and Arthur decides to raise money for charity, which provides him with the chance to go outside his comfort zone, have some good old character growth, and the publicity from his fundraising ultimately reunites him with the love of his life.

The whole storyline felt incredibly exploitative. Sophia had one small scene, and otherwise existed so her death could provide the characters with reasons to do what they all ended up doing, while she was barely mentioned for the rest of the book. I understand the author wanting to include mental health for LGBTQ+ teens in the story. What I’m finding increasingly with queer books marketed to mainstream (read: straight) readers is this drive to cram in as many queer issues as possible, but it creates at best tonal dissonance and at worst this situation here, where tragic storylines exist so the main characters find their purpose. It could have been written differently; if it was changed to a suicide attempt, with Sophia keeping her agency and having more voice in the story, it would have had the same impact on the plot without literally sacrificing one character for the sake of another.

Another moment I had major issue with was Teddy’s mother. She says lots of awful things over the duration of the book, and when Teddy comes out she slaps him across the face. When she apologises he forgives her, reassures her that she’s not a bad mother (which she definitely is) and everyone moves on. I don’t think I need to say much on this one, but I will say that if it had been a father hitting his daughter, I don’t think it would have been dealt with in the same way.

And finally, the epilogue was just a mess. I liked where all the characters ended up, but so much happened between the last chapter and the epilogue that it felt like when I went back on Duolingo after months away but they’ve moved everything round and now I’m expected to know how to speak in the past tense and they won’t teach it to me again. For example, Teddy and his boyfriend – who have JUST got together in the last chapter – broke up between the last chapter and the epilogue, but then got back together in the epilogue. And the job offer that Teddy accepted in the final chapter, he has since left to change not just jobs but professions entirely. I don’t understand why those endings couldn’t have been written into the main story, rather than info dump in the epilogue?

There were some beautiful, wonderful moments in this book, but there were some very troubling moments too. It’s a lot easy to rant-type about things you don’t like rather than things you do, and part of the reason the issues I highlighted annoyed me so much is they were so at odds with an otherwise brilliant book. Will I read this one again? Probably not. Will I read this author again? Probably.

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own. 

 Patrick Ness was one of my favourite authors as a teenager, and while I haven’t followed his work as closely as I’ve grown up, this book was a reminder of quite how talented a writer he is.

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I will admit I was cautious at the start of this one, but I was soon completely absorbed in the story. We follow four boys who attend an all-boys school, and over the course of a few weeks the friendships and relationships between them shift, are built up, and are torn down. It’s incredibly moving, and at the heart of it is a realisation that intimacy and romance come in many different forms.

The ‘gimmick’ of the book is that the less PG words and phrases are blacked out. It’s done very well – in a slightly meta twist the characters themselves are aware of it, so they use it for comedic purposes. The idea is to tell a story about teenagers’ real lives without any of the words/phrases that aren’t allowed to be used in teen media. While it felt a bit obnoxious at first, I soon came round to it. After all, we now have an internet culture where censorship is so out of hand that you can’t use the word ‘mascara’ without clarifying that you do, in fact, just mean mascara. With that in mind, it’s a genius move.

The illustrations by Tea Bendix really tie the whole story together, and heighten the emotional beats of the story.

This is an excellent novella: poignant, moving, and utterly heart-breaking.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy for an honest review. 

I’ve really enjoyed reading some of A. L. Lester’s newer releases over the last year or so, so I was very excited when I got the chance to review the audiobook of their debut novel!

There are lots of different aspects to this story, including a historical between-the-wars setting, a paranormal mystery and a slow-burn queer romance. At the start the different threads felt quite disjointed, but by the second half the story was well underway and it all blended together much more seamlessly.

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A lot happened in this very short book, and I think that’s where the audiobook format really has its advantages. If I had been reading this myself it might have felt a bit rushed, but the audiobook format slowed the pacing down to the perfect level. There were a few anachronisms and inconsistencies, but on the whole they didn’t impede on my enjoyment of the book.

The book was really well-narrated by Callum Hale, making it an engaging listen, and he brought the different characters to life with plenty of variety between each person.

While this book was a mixed bag for me, I can’t wait to listen to the next two in the series. Lost in Time felt less like the first book in a trilogy and more like the first part of one, longer book, and I’m excited for what happens next!

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free copy of the audiobook for review; all of their audiobooks are currently available on Spotify. All opinions are my own.