During my Christmas 2020 reading rut I got into The Crown. This book was a great fictional retelling of the coming together of Philip & Elizabeth prior to their marriage.
It was everything you would imagine, the very English personality traits of the royals as well as Prince Philip’s well documented brusqueness. I felt it was as close to reality as a fictional story could ever get. But for those who love a romance, and a happy ending, this one was rather sweet.

I have loved Greek mythology for many years, I will reach for these stories time & time again & I was so keen to get my hands on Ariadne as soon as I heard about it.
My aim to read a few pages before going to bed turned into eight chapters, before forcing myself to put it down. It felt like a book I could really get lost in. But, I didn’t love the ending, the final moments… it left me a bit underwhelmed. I am not familiar with Ariadne’s story in Greek mythology, so maybe this disappointment should be directed more at the legend rather than the writer.
I look forward to the next retelling by Saint as I would like to see her take on another story.

Wow, that first chapter had my heart hammering in my chest, I actually felt my anxiety levels rising as I read those opening paragraphs.
I’ve read so many books already this year & it’s been kind of “meh” in the five star department. I desperately wanted something I could sink my teeth into, something with enough pull to

To be honest, I was a bit worried that this was going to be a book I couldn’t “get into”, but I was left pleasantly surprised by the impact of each of the character’s stories. While they were at times completely unlikeable, even frustrating, their experiences & the slow unraveling of each of their stories, helped to build an understanding & level of empathy that I was unprepared for. I became invested in each of them & wanted the best for them, I was happy with where the author chose to leave each of them in the final chapters.
In the end, I really enjoyed reading this book. It had a nice flow to it, it was relevant & the themes written about in this story helped to educate me in ways I didn’t even know I needed educating in.
Another reason this book kind of grabbed me, I grew up in the very towns described in this book. I went to high school in Finley, NSW. I left when I was still a teenager, but the link pulled me back to a much younger version of myself & again, placed me in the shoes of the character, growing up in a tiny, country town where everyone knows everyone’s business & outsiders struggle to fit in.

Right… so… where do we even start on this one? Firstly, I found it in the youth section & I’m kind of wondering if it really should have been there?

Set in the 70’s, during a time when ABBA ruled the music scene, women were expected to be submissive & men still ruled the world. Enter Carol, Anna & Libby, three women who get jack of that narrative & decide to change their lives. I guess that’s the crux for me though, these women were doing something monumental & unexpected & yet the story felt… a bit too fluffy, I felt unmoved. I didn’t feel an affinity with any of the characters or their stories sadly.
Their friendship was a beautiful thing in a very challenging time, maybe that was the writer’s focus & I missed the point. Maybe I just read this story at the wrong time & therefore didn’t relate to it. For that reason I’m choosing not to give this book a rating, because it wasn’t a badly written book, it just maybe wasn’t the right book for me right now.

I have mentioned my love of Mythology previously, but in particular, the story of Troy & the life of Helen. This book by Stephen Fry is a wealth of knowledge on literally everyone who is anyone in Greek Mythology. This book is so intricately written, the ancestry so detailed, with so many incredibly difficult to pronounce words, that I found myself skipping over some & just moving on. I really do love the pronunciations, but found the sheer volume overwhelming. It maybe wasn’t the more romanticized novel I would have preferred, but you cannot ignore Fry’s research & story-telling is indeed epic.

I started this feeling a bit like I’d read it before. You know, the neurotic, overly organized woman who falls in love with the reckless, hot, hair-flicking guy who wears a motorbike jacket. It’s all too familiar. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish due to the rom-com-ie-ness of the story, but once I got in a few chapters, I feel like the author relaxed into the story & it seemed to flow in a more natural way. It was cute. I liked the way the two characters softened each other’s sharp edges. I loved the traditional Indian family & their interest in Daisy’s life. I love that the guy was super-duper in love. I love that romantic stuff. Love is awesome. And this book was not bad at all.

**possible spoilers ahead**

This was for the most part, I felt, a slow moving thriller, but at times it was also very, very dark. The story is broken up into seasons, with snippets alluding to a tragedy strewn throughout. Nothing is given away until later in the book, so you are left wondering who has died, the shifting of who, changing as new information comes to light the further you progress.
The characters in the story were completely unlikeable, every single one of them!! I felt uncomfortable & anxious at parts, as more of the darker details of certain characters emerged. I found them all to be quite selfish, each of them revealing inner demons & worrying behaviors, but definitely some more than others. I guess that approach had you second-guessing all your theories, leaning more towards one person & then swiftly moving back to another. I was left reeling at the intensity of the final chapters.
While I found this book quite heavy for my personal preferences, I think a great story was delivered.

Well now, wasn’t that the longest, most eventful road trip you’ve ever read about?