emma_rreads's Reviews (183)

I’m pretty sure this will stay with me for a while as I work out how I really feel. The first half, I loved. The latter half I was less keen on, but I really liked the ending and it’s left me with lots to think about. 

Devotion was not what I expecting at all, but in a good way. It’s a thought provoking read and delves into themes of ownership, love, family, and religion. 

First off, this is (said with some shame) the first novel I've ever read from Ann Patchett, and so I can only judge it on it's own merits.

Lara's three grown up daughters return home to help with the cherry harvest on their family farm, and finally get to hear of their mother's romance with a famous film star.....

It's a reflective novel, taking a gentle pace through first love and beyond. Combined with themes of motherhood, different kinds of love and what it means to be happy. This is a thoughtful, introspective novel that gradually gets beneath the reader's skin in the very best of ways. 

Vox was the book that inspired my dissertation when it was released a few years back, and while I’ve enjoyed Christina Dalcher’s novels since - they didn’t quite live up to my intense love for Vox.

The Sentence has changed this.

The Remedies Act demands that the lead prosecutor is willing to stake their own life on the certainty of guilt when asking for the death penalty. If innocence is later proven, they themselves will be on death row.

A brilliant book for a book club read because there is so much to discuss, ethically, legally and politically. I love to read (obviously!!) but I have been willing myself to find time and sit and read this in great binge worthy chunks. 

A slow burn psychological drama centred on Amber, a woman whose memory in her home town is tarnished by her monstrous crime,   giving birth at the prom and then killing the baby. The press call her ‘Prom Mom’. 

She returns years later and reconnects with the father of the baby (known as ‘Cad Dad’) a man now successful and happily married.

This is one twisted, dark story which I found very compelling. Multi layered and whip smart. I loved it!

I really enjoyed The Illusions, exciting historical fiction inspired by real life illusionists and early film pioneers. 
Cecily Marsden is a sixteen year old left alone when her employer suddenly dies. Drawn into the world magic, theatre and performance she finds herself a new home as she’s introduced to George Perris, a bold and innovative young illusionist and Eadie Carleton, a woman at the forefront of the new craze of moving pictures. As an exciting new show is planned, it becomes apparent there is sabotage afoot - can Cecily, George and Eadie defy expectations and ensure that the show goes on?

Smartly written with lots of historical detail and magical realism to boot.

A brilliant read which took me just over 24 hours. I thought it was going to be another heavy read initially, with the main character, fourteen year old Jackie, being taken into foster care. Her Dad is an alcoholic and after several incidents of neglect and abuse, she’s taken in by the Wall family. Nick, Bridget and their fourteen year old daughter, Amanda, who takes against Jackie and seems intent on ousting her….

Wittily narrated, it was a joy to read and although not old enough to have been around in the 1970s when it’s set, there were many memories brought to the surface of being a teenager (albeit twenty years later!!)

When the oldest resident of the Sound & Love Commune dies after determining to live on light and live alone, her fellow residents are all arrested and an investigation ensues. Who is to blame?

Excellent observational prose from unique perspectives; the night, the facts, the scent of oranges….

It is without doubt one of the most original novels I’ve read this year, and I found it incredibly compelling. To watch through these emotionless, yet all-seeing eyes, the events of the novel become fact like. Becoming a study on behaviour, coercion and society itself.

Based on true events, The Last Lifeboat uses the real life sinking of the SS City of Benares as inspiration. Focusing on a group of seavacues escaping WWII for Canada when the ship is torpedoed. Alice King finds herself as the only woman on the last lifeboat, but with the search called off, how can they possibly survive. Meanwhile, Lily, a mother desperately awaiting news may be their only hope.

Beautifully told, The Last Lifeboat explores a lesser known element of the war. Hard choices to be made in terrifying times, and as a mum I really felt the torment. As the repercussions are felt at home, the lifeboat scenes are scary. The sense of being trapped amid great expanse, completely helpless comes across so well.

I cannot wait to read Hazel’s back catalogue, for me this was practically perfect historical fiction.

As a woman and as a mum, We Need to Talk by Emily Hunt was a terrifying read.

One woman’s quest for justice within a system that continually fails her. It raises questions on systemic victim blaming and challenges even your own thinking. The statistics alone are horrifying and I truly believe this is a book that everyone, male or female, should read.

I love a good book about complex families, and This Family was a wonderfully compelling read.

Set over 24 hours, it’s Mary’s wedding day and her daughters are coming together for the time under strict instruction to keep the peace due to their ongoing fallout.

The book then deftly weaves between present day and flashbacks and we learn the story of each of the women, and what has led to the fallout.

It’s a really lovely read, emotional but ultimately heart warming. And I absolutely loved how the author alludes and gives a sense of what has happened and trusts the reader to fully connect the dots. 

A holiday read for me, it had me going to bed early just to enjoy my time with This Family.