elementarymydear's Reviews (967)

 Please note: this review does not include a star rating, as I have seen that the NetGalley version predates a lot of editing/proofreading. I think that had I read a more finalised version of this book, I would have enjoyed it much more.

I jumped at the chance to read this book. I grew up in Derbyshire, frequently visiting Eyam, and I loved the idea of reading a historical fiction set in the famous plague village. Even today it’s a fairly morbid place, with signs on each house listing who died from the plague there, and a museum filled with plague-ridden wax figures.

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If anything, though, my prior knowledge and interest actually hindered my enjoyment of this book, as it was less of a fiction-set-in-Eyam and more a slightly-fictionalised-historical-account-of-Eyam. Not only are all of the characters real people, but you get the sense that every single person had to be accounted for. So many people either appear or are mentioned in the book that it felt like every name on the 1666 parish register got a look-in. While this did help to underline the devastation the plague had on the village, it also crowded the story and made it difficult to connect to our main characters. This also wasn’t helped by the fact that everyone had the same name. Obviously this wasn’t the author’s fault – there were only so many names to go around in 17th Century rural Derbyshire – but it made it incredibly difficult to keep track of who was who. I felt like I spent so much time trying to work out which Elizabeth was which that I was pulled out of the story.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do here, and I commend her for trying to bring the full depth of this tragedy to the forefront, but as a result we lost the opportunity for plot, or satisfying character arcs. (I don’t mind which one of those we get – a strong character-led story needs very little plot, if any.) The sections which did delve into the character of our three protagonists were very good, and I would have loved to see much more of them.

The three perspectives, while a little tricky to follow at times, worked well, and I did really like that the author took this opportunity to tell the stories of three women whose work was vital to their village community. That being said, we had new perspectives being introduced at the eleventh hour, with the last two chapters (and last two alone) being from completely new perspectives. Why not finish the book on one of the perspectives we have had all along? If needed, we could always have had an epilogue.

This book had so much potential, there were glimpses of a really great book but unfortunately the overall read did not come together as I had hoped.

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

 I LOVED this book from start to finish. I was captivated from the first page to the final full stop, swept up into the excitement of Suffragette life and the ever-increasing darkness of warfare.

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Our three heroines live very different lives. Evelyn, born into a high society, isn’t sure of what she wants out of life, but is angered that she doesn’t have the same options as her older brother. May is a Quaker, and has been raised by her equally socially-conscious mother. As a pacifist she outright condemns the violence of both the Suffragettes and the First World War, and among the liberal Quakers she is able to live a relatively open life as a lesbian (she identifies herself as a Sapphist, the contemporary term). Nell, on the other hand, was born into a working-class family and takes whatever work she can get to help her family make ends meet. Also queer, she generally chooses to wear boys’ clothes, but doesn’t have the benefit of knowing other queer people like May does.

At the start of the book, the three girls are in their early- to mid-teens. They believe so fiercely in their cause(s), sometimes to the point of naivety, that it was almost frustrating when they butted heads or found themselves unable to compromise. I absolutely loved, though, how they each grew through their own journeys. As they learnt more about the world they began to re-evaluate whether or not things are quite so black and white as they had first thought. It was so satisfying at the end, and I was weirdly proud of them, that by the end they still held the same convictions and beliefs but had a much better understanding of nuances and other people’s experiences.


(It’s worth noting that the right of women to vote is never questioned; rather, the best way to go about campaigning for it.)

Nell and May have a whirlwind romance, and while at the start I wasn’t sold – a bit too much insta-love – I soon came around and I was incredibly satisfied with the development and conclusion of their relationship (no spoilers!). It again felt very true-to-life, and it was great to read these two girls come to realise that life and love are much more complicated than they originally realised.

This was the perfect coming-of-age book, the characters growing up and coming into their own without losing the core of who they are or compromising their beliefs. I wish I had been able to read this when I was in my early teens, but I enjoyed it just as much – if not more – as an adult.

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

 I have very mixed feelings on this book. The things that I enjoyed – the majority of the book – I absolutely loved. The things that I didn’t enjoy… I really, really didn’t.

The story follows Ansel, a young man who returns to his home town for his grandfather’s funeral. Returning home, however, means confronting old demons, reigniting old family feuds, and getting caught up in complicated romantic entanglements.

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This book was much darker than I expected it to be, but once I readjusted my expectations I really enjoyed the bulk of the story. It’s a very introspective examination of grief and loss, not just for someone who has passed away but for the people and opportunities in life that pass you by. It felt like a very honest and refreshing view into the lives of people in their early twenties, feeling confident and self-assured one moment and then at a complete loss the next. I was completely transfixed as the relationships and history between the different characters was revealed. Even when I didn’t think Ansel was making the right decisions, I could see why he’s doing what he’s doing, and my frustrations felt less like a reader getting annoyed at a character, and more like when you just want your friend to make better choices!

If you ever needed to fight for the cause of Own Voices fiction, this book would be a perfect candidate. As a Black bisexual man of West Indian heritage, just like the author, Ansel leaps off the page as an incredibly authentic character. Hayden Winston’s depiction of Ansel’s mental health also felt very true to life, as something that he lives with on a day-to-day basis that sometimes consumes him, and sometimes is there in the background.

All that being said, both the first and last chapters let the book down for me. The first chapter was incredibly long and filled with exposition. Especially when the first scene is a funeral, it would have been great to see the family dynamics and history play out in real time rather than quite a long, drawn-out narrative of everything we needed to know. Once the story got going, though, it was like reading a different book and I enjoyed it much more from the second chapter onwards. As the story builds and builds I was holding my breath for the ending, and I had no idea what to expect. Had you asked me to guess, though, there was no way I would have got it right. I won’t spoil the ending, but it took a complete left-turn on not just the tone and direction of the story but also the genre. It felt a little like the rug had been pulled out from under me, and not in a good way.

From Chapter 2 to Chapter 22, this was an extremely strong book, exploring lots of interesting and meaningful themes. I think that will be the part of this book that stays with me, and it was incredibly well done.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free copy for review. 

 Sarah Haworth, daughter of her village’s “cunning woman”, just wants to keep her family safe. The shadow of the Pendle Hill witch trials hangs over the village, and she and her family are ostracised by the other villagers for their perceived witchcraft. After Sarah strikes up a friendship with the son of a local farmer, however, she not only begins to fall in love, but starts planning a future beyond a lonely life in their rundown cottage.

I’ve read a few books set around this time and place, and this is a welcome addition to the sub-genre. The writing is so atmospheric, you can’t help but be drawn into the slightly unsettling day-to-day life of the village. It is, mostly, a very still book. For the majority of the story there are undertones of danger, the sense that something terrible might happen at any moment, making it all the more dramatic when something does happen. It’s a slow burn but the pay-off is worth it!

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Something I really enjoyed about this book – and about similar books too – is that there is a certain ambiguity as to the magical element. You could read it as historical fiction, where the characters are convinced that there are magical forces at play to the point of near delusion. Alternatively, you could read it as a fantasy story of very real witches who are forced to hide their powers. This is a trope I really enjoy in historical fiction and it was done really well here, and I thought it added to the world-building and to the story.

The book deals with lots of very heavy topics (definitely check the content warnings if there are things you look out for). It was really interesting to see how the characters dealt with the consequences of their own and others’ actions, and the ramifications of that on the village as a whole. As is often the case with women accused of witchcraft, they did not commit the crimes they were accused of. It was an interesting twist to see this through the eyes of Daniel, the farmer’s son, as he comes to realise for himself the terrible way the Haworth family have been treated. There was a particularly touching moment towards the end where Sarah realises how much her mother has been through, and the difficult actions she has taken to keep her family safe.

That being said, I would have liked to see a little more at the end of the characters confronting their own actions. For spoiler reasons I won’t say who, but there was one character in particular who with the best intentions made a lot of decisions that had terrible consequences. While they began to face up to those consequences at the end, it didn’t quite follow through for me and the ending felt like a little bit of a let-down.

I do think it’s worth noting that the tag-line for this book – “A feminist tale of forbidden love after the witch trials” – felt quite misleading. While the story does centre women’s experiences at the time, I wouldn’t necessarily count it as a feminist novel, as it did little to examine or overcome the political, social and economic constraints on women. This is not necessarily a bad thing – I don’t think the book needed that – it does feel like the tag-line was added for buzzwords rather than for an accurate summary of the book.

Overall, this was an incredibly atmospheric historical fiction, with a touch of magic to leave you guessing right to the end.

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

 I will admit I went into this book with high expectations. I wanted regency romance, queer romance, adventures and shenanigans and, in short… something fabulous.

Safe to say this book not only matched my expectations but exceeded them. It was everything I could ever have hoped for!

Something Fabulous follows Valentine, the Duke of Malvern, who after a botched proposal to betrothed-since-childhood Arabella Tarleton, joins her brother, Bonaventure ‘Bonny’ Tarleton on a cross-country adventure to try and bring her back and persuade her that life isn’t like it is in romance novels. Bonny is overdramatic and impulsive, but as Valentine learns that love is more varied and complicated than he ever thought possible, he also learns that maybe life is more like a romance novel than he thought.

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I have read a fair amount of queer historical novels in my time, and they are almost universally tragic – even the ones set in places or eras where queer relationships were the norm (I’m looking at you, Song of Achilles). To read a historical romance, that is not just unashamedly queer but joyously so, was like a breath of fresh air. To that end, there are basically no straight people in this book. All of the recurring characters exist somewhere under the rainbow, and to see characters exist so openly in historical fiction is glorious.

Valentine gets to know this community throughout the story (sometimes with hilarious ignorance – Harold, they’re lesbians) and his slow realisation that he is, in fact, a part of the community, was incredibly touching. It’s also worth pointing out that Valentine is demisexual, and it was really great to see that distinguished from the way inexperienced characters are usually treated in historical romance. Bonny and Arabella are both such ridiculous people that you know meeting them in real life would drive you up the wall, but you can’t help but warm to them.

The story is absolutely outrageous, and all the better for it. Every single trope from regency romance is hit, and often subverted to hilarious results. For the sake of spoilers I won’t list them here, but just know that I loved each and every one. Everything is so over the top – from the characters’ names to their personalities to the story itself – and you can’t help but be swept along for the ride. The author describes it as “the campest and silliest and most fun thing I have written”, and I can safely describe it as the campest and silliest and most fun thing I have ever read.

This book was pure joy from start to finish. Now if I could have a whole series of these, please and thank you, I will be on my way.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance copy for review. All opinions are my own.