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stuckinthebook's Reviews (248)
I read my first Elif Shafak novel in 2020 and since then, I’ve been on a mission to collect (and read) all her books because I guess, I want to double-check that she is my favourite author before actually announcing it to the world. I was recommended ‘The Forty Rules of Love’ by my work colleague, who after reading ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ from my recommendation, suggested I read this book so we can both ‘stan’ over Elif and her writing.
SYNOPSIS: Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on ‘Sweet Blasphemy’, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerised by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realises that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.
REVIEW: I went into this book not actually knowing what the story was about and was actually surprised when I found out that it was two books for the price of one - just the first reason why Elif is such a unique talent. So alongside Ella’s story about her unhappy marriage and realisation that she wants more, we also get the story of ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ - the book that Ella is reading for her new job as a literary agent. It’s through ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ that Ella comes to know the author, Aziz Zahara, and the different stories run together as one.
So as there are two books running parallel to each other, there are a lot of different characters but in true Elif Shafak style, every character was so vivid and clear in my mind when I was reading their narrative and I never felt like I was confused at any point as to who was who. The main characters in the ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ story were Sufi and Rumi. However, in my opinion, I wasn’t that interested in their narrative. In fact, I was more hooked on all the other narratives from the other characters who all had a motive for disliking Sufi and as we know that Sufi gets killed right at the start of the book, I liked seeing the different personal vendettas behind his death and working out who played a part in his murder.
Obviously because the name of the book is The Forty Rules of Love, the theme of love runs throughout the novel and each rule pops up here and there in the Sweet Blasphemy story, when Sufi uses different rules to help the other characters make sense of how they are feeling. I really enjoyed seeing how Elif incorporated these rules into the story and how these rules influenced Ella into changing her belief on love and her relationship. I also loved the added little details (like every chapter in Sweet Blasphemy beginning with ‘B’) that in true Elif style made the book a joy to read. However, although I enjoyed the story, I can’t say I was completely invested? I did struggle to write this review and actually remember what happened, which screams to me that this book was good but not ‘wow’. I still enjoyed the story though and I would still recommend this read to anyone looking to extend their Elif Shafak collection and a book with short chapters!
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on ‘Sweet Blasphemy’, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerised by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realises that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.
REVIEW: I went into this book not actually knowing what the story was about and was actually surprised when I found out that it was two books for the price of one - just the first reason why Elif is such a unique talent. So alongside Ella’s story about her unhappy marriage and realisation that she wants more, we also get the story of ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ - the book that Ella is reading for her new job as a literary agent. It’s through ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ that Ella comes to know the author, Aziz Zahara, and the different stories run together as one.
So as there are two books running parallel to each other, there are a lot of different characters but in true Elif Shafak style, every character was so vivid and clear in my mind when I was reading their narrative and I never felt like I was confused at any point as to who was who. The main characters in the ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ story were Sufi and Rumi. However, in my opinion, I wasn’t that interested in their narrative. In fact, I was more hooked on all the other narratives from the other characters who all had a motive for disliking Sufi and as we know that Sufi gets killed right at the start of the book, I liked seeing the different personal vendettas behind his death and working out who played a part in his murder.
Obviously because the name of the book is The Forty Rules of Love, the theme of love runs throughout the novel and each rule pops up here and there in the Sweet Blasphemy story, when Sufi uses different rules to help the other characters make sense of how they are feeling. I really enjoyed seeing how Elif incorporated these rules into the story and how these rules influenced Ella into changing her belief on love and her relationship. I also loved the added little details (like every chapter in Sweet Blasphemy beginning with ‘B’) that in true Elif style made the book a joy to read. However, although I enjoyed the story, I can’t say I was completely invested? I did struggle to write this review and actually remember what happened, which screams to me that this book was good but not ‘wow’. I still enjoyed the story though and I would still recommend this read to anyone looking to extend their Elif Shafak collection and a book with short chapters!
READ THIS IF:
Ahhh the book that EVERYONE on TikTok is reading, posting about and recommending. If you’re on TikTok, you would no doubt have seen this book circulating. Even the copy I own has a little sticker on the front saying ‘TikTok made me buy it’. So as I was in the mood for a cheesy, feel-good, saucy rom-com, I knew it was the time to see what all the hype surrounding this book was about!
SYNOPSIS: As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
REVIEW: I definitely found this book to be an incredibly easy read and by only a few pages, I was hooked on the story and could easily envisage each character so vividly. I did find that the chapters were chunky but the story moved at such a great pace that I found myself racing through the chapters without any hesitation.
As I was reading the story, I tried to stop myself from thinking too much about the story and to just enjoy the experience. Yet I couldn’t stop myself from thinking as the story went on how I felt about our narrator and main character, Olive Smith. Did I like her? I don’t know - she was simple in many ways but I also felt sorry for her in her quest to find funding for her research project. And it was this part of the story which I found the most intriguing - how the author Ali Hazelwood centres around women in STEM and academia. I suppose the majority of readers don’t really know about this sector of the community unless you’re directly involved in STEM research so I would have liked Ali Hazelwood to put in a little bit more detail about Olive’s research which would have made the STEM story a little bit more intriguing!
I did however, find the love interest, Adam, to be so wholesome and loving. I much preferred his character to any of the other characters in the book, even with his ‘moody’ and ‘mean’ demeanour. It was so clear that he really loved and cared for Olive and I found him to be the perfect gentleman. It took over 200 pages to get to the saucy scenes which, c’mon, we were all getting excited about and it was everything I needed from the two characters.
Overall, the writing and the story is cheesy and predictable but if you’re looking for an easy, feel-good, rom-com, then look no further!
SYNOPSIS: As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
REVIEW: I definitely found this book to be an incredibly easy read and by only a few pages, I was hooked on the story and could easily envisage each character so vividly. I did find that the chapters were chunky but the story moved at such a great pace that I found myself racing through the chapters without any hesitation.
As I was reading the story, I tried to stop myself from thinking too much about the story and to just enjoy the experience. Yet I couldn’t stop myself from thinking as the story went on how I felt about our narrator and main character, Olive Smith. Did I like her? I don’t know - she was simple in many ways but I also felt sorry for her in her quest to find funding for her research project. And it was this part of the story which I found the most intriguing - how the author Ali Hazelwood centres around women in STEM and academia. I suppose the majority of readers don’t really know about this sector of the community unless you’re directly involved in STEM research so I would have liked Ali Hazelwood to put in a little bit more detail about Olive’s research which would have made the STEM story a little bit more intriguing!
I did however, find the love interest, Adam, to be so wholesome and loving. I much preferred his character to any of the other characters in the book, even with his ‘moody’ and ‘mean’ demeanour. It was so clear that he really loved and cared for Olive and I found him to be the perfect gentleman. It took over 200 pages to get to the saucy scenes which, c’mon, we were all getting excited about and it was everything I needed from the two characters.
Overall, the writing and the story is cheesy and predictable but if you’re looking for an easy, feel-good, rom-com, then look no further!
First of all, thank you so much to 4th Estate Books for my advanced copy of ‘Cleopatra and Frankenstein’ which is actually out in the UK right now! I’ve seen nearly every single bookstagrammer posting and reading this book and I was absolutely over the moon when an advanced copy came through my letterbox. Not only that, but I follow Coco Mellors on Instagram and oh my, what a delight she is. She always re-posts mine and fellow bookstagrammers posts about her book and she just looks like she’s living the New York, published author dream and after (what I can imagine have been a very long) seven years, I can’t even imagine the sheer delight one must feel walking into a bookstore in New York and seeing your book right front and centre. And as I dedicated February to reading stories about love, I more or less read this book as soon as I got my hands on a copy…
SYNOPSIS: Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.
Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.
REVIEW: I found this book incredibly easy to read. I was obsessed with each character. To the point where I wanted to be part of their weird friendship group. I did, however, feel like I was in the midst of all their drama. From the very first chapter, I could easily see the characters in my head and was hooked. I just wanted to read the book at every opportunity I got and for me, that signifies a great read.
Out of all the characters, I found myself more connected to Frank than Cleo. Frank has his issues and my god, he definitely isn’t the perfect husband or partner but I felt like Frank did really care for Cleo and honestly tried to do his best and therefore, I felt like I was more invested in his story than anyone else’s story. I wonder how common/uncommon my opinion is. You will have to read it and see if you are drawn to Cleo or Frank more. I wonder who Coco wants us to feel more sorry for or perhaps we should feel sorry for each character at different points throughout the book.
I also really enjoyed Coco’s commentary on this problem in society about ‘Top Trumps: Sadness Edition’. In the novel, Cleo and Frank constantly argue about who is allowed to be messed up more because of their childhood. Does a suicidal, dead mother trump a drunk, distant mother? Does a rich, sad man trump a poor, sad woman? I liked how these discussions came up time and time again throughout the novel.
I also liked that the story wasn’t just about Cleo and Frank but also the people who they dragged into their messed up relationship like Frank’s sister, Frank’s employee, Frank’s best friend and Cleo’s gay best friend. I do think that Frank and Cleo did love each other, but as cliché as it sounds, they didn’t love themselves enough to accept each other’s love. They didn’t think they were deserving of the love the other gave to them and therefore didn’t know how to accept the love.
The writing in this book is exceptional and although the story is not action packed, it is packed with different depictions of love, marriage and relationships which makes you want to absolutely devour it in one sitting.
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.
Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.
REVIEW: I found this book incredibly easy to read. I was obsessed with each character. To the point where I wanted to be part of their weird friendship group. I did, however, feel like I was in the midst of all their drama. From the very first chapter, I could easily see the characters in my head and was hooked. I just wanted to read the book at every opportunity I got and for me, that signifies a great read.
Out of all the characters, I found myself more connected to Frank than Cleo. Frank has his issues and my god, he definitely isn’t the perfect husband or partner but I felt like Frank did really care for Cleo and honestly tried to do his best and therefore, I felt like I was more invested in his story than anyone else’s story. I wonder how common/uncommon my opinion is. You will have to read it and see if you are drawn to Cleo or Frank more. I wonder who Coco wants us to feel more sorry for or perhaps we should feel sorry for each character at different points throughout the book.
I also really enjoyed Coco’s commentary on this problem in society about ‘Top Trumps: Sadness Edition’. In the novel, Cleo and Frank constantly argue about who is allowed to be messed up more because of their childhood. Does a suicidal, dead mother trump a drunk, distant mother? Does a rich, sad man trump a poor, sad woman? I liked how these discussions came up time and time again throughout the novel.
I also liked that the story wasn’t just about Cleo and Frank but also the people who they dragged into their messed up relationship like Frank’s sister, Frank’s employee, Frank’s best friend and Cleo’s gay best friend. I do think that Frank and Cleo did love each other, but as cliché as it sounds, they didn’t love themselves enough to accept each other’s love. They didn’t think they were deserving of the love the other gave to them and therefore didn’t know how to accept the love.
The writing in this book is exceptional and although the story is not action packed, it is packed with different depictions of love, marriage and relationships which makes you want to absolutely devour it in one sitting.
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I was kindly gifted an advanced copy of this beautiful book by Rebecca Serle from Quercus so first of all a huge thank you to Quercus for sending this across to me. I first came across Rebecca Serle when I read her 2020 New York Times Bestseller, In Five Years. Her writing and her characters blew me away so when I heard she was to release her new novel One Italian Summer I knew I had to get my hands on a copy!
SYNOPSIS: When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. Their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know her mother, but as the young woman before Katy arrived. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
REVIEW: I feel like there should be a trigger warning with this book about it making you want to visit the Amalfi Coast in Italy the second you pick it up. The descriptions of food and the scenery were so excellently written it made my mouth water and my wanderlust grow deeper.
The chapters are short and quick chapters but the story builds at such a nice pace that you can’t help but become encapsulated with Katy and the amazing summer experience she’s having. Yet although the description of Italy was absolutely fantastic, another part of the story that I thought that Serle executed excellently was the description of Katy’s grief and how that impacted the way she felt and acted. I absolutely loved the concept of the story, as I could really feel the main character's grief.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a short, quick read that really packs a punch but also if you're newly single or going through grief, I think One Italian Summer is a great book to remind you why we need to keep living for our loved ones who can't anymore.
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. Their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know her mother, but as the young woman before Katy arrived. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
REVIEW: I feel like there should be a trigger warning with this book about it making you want to visit the Amalfi Coast in Italy the second you pick it up. The descriptions of food and the scenery were so excellently written it made my mouth water and my wanderlust grow deeper.
The chapters are short and quick chapters but the story builds at such a nice pace that you can’t help but become encapsulated with Katy and the amazing summer experience she’s having. Yet although the description of Italy was absolutely fantastic, another part of the story that I thought that Serle executed excellently was the description of Katy’s grief and how that impacted the way she felt and acted. I absolutely loved the concept of the story, as I could really feel the main character's grief.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a short, quick read that really packs a punch but also if you're newly single or going through grief, I think One Italian Summer is a great book to remind you why we need to keep living for our loved ones who can't anymore.
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I spent the whole of last month reading love stories, I thought it was about time I read something gritty and different and as Tall Bones was published here in the UK last week, I thought what great timing!
SYNOPSIS: When 17 year-old Abi goes missing, her disappearance cracks open the façade of the small town of Whistling Ridge, its intimate history of long-held grudges and resentment. Anything could happen in Whistling Ridge, this tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark - the truth of what really happened that night out at the Tall Bones…
REVIEW: First of all, I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It’s been a while since I’ve read a thriller/murder mystery and this book reminded me of why I love the genre so much. I devoured this book in a matter of days and every time I put the book down, I was left thinking about the characters for much longer afterwards which is always a huge tell-tale sign that a book was good.
Also I really loved how each character has their own secrets and their own story to tell. I could imagine every character and their houses/locations so vividly in my mind, it was honestly like I was watching a film in my head every time I read the book. The pace of the book was absolutely spot-on too, and we as the reader, are taken on this journey to not only piece together what happened to Abi and who was involved, but to also work out each character’s back story and I thought the pace in which we find out about each and every character (and there’s a lot: Abi, Abi' best friend and her mother, Abi's father, mother and two brothers, Abi's friend Hunter and his dad, the Police officer, the Gypsy new-comer and the Priest) was second to none.
I also really enjoyed other aspects of the book where author, Anna Bailey, would use different characters and their story/experience to highlight long-standing issues surrounding religion, cults, sexuality, racism, classism and also the effect of war on men and its survivors - especially in small town America where everyone knows each other’s business.
I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience of this book, especially because the book flicked between the past (before Abi’s disappearance) and the present. I really enjoyed every single character arc and you could just tell that the author had put so much thought into how and when we would find out different character’s secrets.
I thought it was such an incredible read and one you can get lost in almost immediately. Just don’t blame me if you don’t get any sleep once you start this book.
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: When 17 year-old Abi goes missing, her disappearance cracks open the façade of the small town of Whistling Ridge, its intimate history of long-held grudges and resentment. Anything could happen in Whistling Ridge, this tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark - the truth of what really happened that night out at the Tall Bones…
REVIEW: First of all, I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It’s been a while since I’ve read a thriller/murder mystery and this book reminded me of why I love the genre so much. I devoured this book in a matter of days and every time I put the book down, I was left thinking about the characters for much longer afterwards which is always a huge tell-tale sign that a book was good.
Also I really loved how each character has their own secrets and their own story to tell. I could imagine every character and their houses/locations so vividly in my mind, it was honestly like I was watching a film in my head every time I read the book. The pace of the book was absolutely spot-on too, and we as the reader, are taken on this journey to not only piece together what happened to Abi and who was involved, but to also work out each character’s back story and I thought the pace in which we find out about each and every character (and there’s a lot: Abi, Abi' best friend and her mother, Abi's father, mother and two brothers, Abi's friend Hunter and his dad, the Police officer, the Gypsy new-comer and the Priest) was second to none.
I also really enjoyed other aspects of the book where author, Anna Bailey, would use different characters and their story/experience to highlight long-standing issues surrounding religion, cults, sexuality, racism, classism and also the effect of war on men and its survivors - especially in small town America where everyone knows each other’s business.
I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience of this book, especially because the book flicked between the past (before Abi’s disappearance) and the present. I really enjoyed every single character arc and you could just tell that the author had put so much thought into how and when we would find out different character’s secrets.
I thought it was such an incredible read and one you can get lost in almost immediately. Just don’t blame me if you don’t get any sleep once you start this book.
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I was lucky enough to be sent a beautiful advanced copy of Impossible by Sarah Lotz, together with some delicious treats, so huge shout-out and thank you to HarperCollins for choosing me to read this bloody brilliant book! This book publishes in the UK on 17th March 2022 and is absolutely stunning, as well as uniquely brilliant!
SYNOPSIS: This is not a love story. This is IMPOSSIBLE. ‘Sometimes love doesn’t come in the form you think it will.’
Nick: Failed writer. Failed husband. Dog owner. Bee: Serial dater. Dress maker. Pringles enthusiast. When fate brings them together over a misdirected email, the connection is instant. They feel like they’ve known each other all their lives… It should have been the perfect love story. Instead it was IMPOSSIBLE.
REVIEW: So I wouldn’t say this type of book is usually my thing and from the get-go, our two narrators, Bee and Nick, are corresponding in email but there’s something not right. Bee is looking back and telling us about Nick’s red flags and you’re just racing through the chapters to find out what it is that’s so off with these two narrators.
The BIG twist scene actually happens pretty early on and when I was reading the big twist on the bus on my way home from an event with Hanya Yanagihara, I could not believe what I was reading and it was done so excellently well, I was honestly gobsmacked because I had no idea what the twist was going to be and Sarah Lotz gave me everything I never knew I needed.
However, I did start to worry that as the bid twist scene happens really early in the story, and the book is just under 500 pages, I was certainly questioning where Lotz could go from here and honestly, I really, really enjoyed the direction in which the story went. I found myself really invested into Nick’s story more than Bee’s but I still loved Bee and I was still rooting for them both. I think I was drawn more to Nick’s story because for me, I feel like Nick was the character who nothing went right for and a lot seemed to happen in his story compared to Bee’s.
Without spoiling the story, Impossible actually sparked an interesting debate between my boyfriend and I as I asked if we were in the same position as Nick and Bee, what would he do. The exploration of love, relationships, friendships and the outright weird concept which I won’t spoil for you, was honestly so well written I just could not get enough. I absolutely loved the ending, to the point where I was genuinely holding back tears on the bus. I think the story was a little bit longer than I would have liked but that didn’t take anything away from the story development and if anything, made the ending more impactful and emotional!
I had been told prior to reading this that Lotz’s books do have a tendency to get very weird which just made me want to read the book more and as Impossible was my first Lotz book, I’m now itching to read her other work if they are anywhere near as good as this was.
READ THIS IF:
⚡ You’re looking for a love story that’s VERY different
⚡ You enjoy books that switch narrators throughout
⚡ You’re looking for a book that will test the boundaries of fiction
SYNOPSIS: This is not a love story. This is IMPOSSIBLE. ‘Sometimes love doesn’t come in the form you think it will.’
Nick: Failed writer. Failed husband. Dog owner. Bee: Serial dater. Dress maker. Pringles enthusiast. When fate brings them together over a misdirected email, the connection is instant. They feel like they’ve known each other all their lives… It should have been the perfect love story. Instead it was IMPOSSIBLE.
REVIEW: So I wouldn’t say this type of book is usually my thing and from the get-go, our two narrators, Bee and Nick, are corresponding in email but there’s something not right. Bee is looking back and telling us about Nick’s red flags and you’re just racing through the chapters to find out what it is that’s so off with these two narrators.
The BIG twist scene actually happens pretty early on and when I was reading the big twist on the bus on my way home from an event with Hanya Yanagihara, I could not believe what I was reading and it was done so excellently well, I was honestly gobsmacked because I had no idea what the twist was going to be and Sarah Lotz gave me everything I never knew I needed.
However, I did start to worry that as the bid twist scene happens really early in the story, and the book is just under 500 pages, I was certainly questioning where Lotz could go from here and honestly, I really, really enjoyed the direction in which the story went. I found myself really invested into Nick’s story more than Bee’s but I still loved Bee and I was still rooting for them both. I think I was drawn more to Nick’s story because for me, I feel like Nick was the character who nothing went right for and a lot seemed to happen in his story compared to Bee’s.
Without spoiling the story, Impossible actually sparked an interesting debate between my boyfriend and I as I asked if we were in the same position as Nick and Bee, what would he do. The exploration of love, relationships, friendships and the outright weird concept which I won’t spoil for you, was honestly so well written I just could not get enough. I absolutely loved the ending, to the point where I was genuinely holding back tears on the bus. I think the story was a little bit longer than I would have liked but that didn’t take anything away from the story development and if anything, made the ending more impactful and emotional!
I had been told prior to reading this that Lotz’s books do have a tendency to get very weird which just made me want to read the book more and as Impossible was my first Lotz book, I’m now itching to read her other work if they are anywhere near as good as this was.
READ THIS IF:
⚡ You’re looking for a love story that’s VERY different
⚡ You enjoy books that switch narrators throughout
⚡ You’re looking for a book that will test the boundaries of fiction
It is not enough to be pretty and I am not clever enough and it is not enough to be clever and I am not pretty enough.’
Saltwater is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while now and with Jessica Andrews’ next book Milk Teeth being published within a matter of months, I thought it was about time I delved into Andrew’s world to see why her debut was loved by so many.
SYNOPSIS: Lucy is lost. Growing up in the north east she wanted more. But once she gets to London, Lucy can’t help feeling that the big city isn’t for her, and once again she is striving, only this time it’s for the right words, the right clothes, the right foods. No matter what she tries she’s not right. Until she is. In that last year of her degree the city opens up to her, she is saying the right things, doing the right things. Until her parents visit for her graduation and events show her that her life has always been about pretending and now she’s lost all sense of who she is and what she’s supposed to be doing.
‘Books offered me a gauzy version of reality and I stepped hungrily into it’
REVIEW: I really, really enjoyed the reading experience I had with this book. The chapters are so short and are like little titbits of information of a disjointed narrative but it works so well. The short chapters are not only perfect for someone who gets a spare five minutes here and there to read, but they also make the book feel very much like a diary which I tend to enjoy. This sort of narrative form really makes you feel like you’re looking into someone’s very private life but it also makes the narrator/protagonist quite complicated and unreliable because we are only seeing the story through one pair of eyes.
The story itself really focuses on our main character Lucy growing up. It focuses on her relationship with her self destructive and distant mother, her alcoholic and emotionally abusive father and her deaf brother which are all equally described so delicately, it definitely felt like emotional literary fiction. I felt like through the story, Lucy was taking these individual memories of her relationships with each family member to understand how she feels about those experiences, each written so lyrically and honestly.
Part three, where Lucy is at University, was my favourite part of the story because we finally start to see Lucy’s personality, ambition and talent come through in the experiences/memories we’re given access to. Reading about Lucy trying to navigate around University and the people you meet at University was so relatable to me and there was some absolutely stunning prose in this part (which I’ve included in my review so you can see exactly what I mean) that I felt like I was being seen loud and clear by Andrews.
Don’t let the format and the disjointed nature of this book put you off because believe me when I say that you will want to underline so many quotes in this book because Andrews just perfectly sums up feelings that we might not have processed ourselves yet. A beautiful, lyrical and raw story but one that I thoroughly enjoyed to its core.
READ THIS IF:
Saltwater is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while now and with Jessica Andrews’ next book Milk Teeth being published within a matter of months, I thought it was about time I delved into Andrew’s world to see why her debut was loved by so many.
SYNOPSIS: Lucy is lost. Growing up in the north east she wanted more. But once she gets to London, Lucy can’t help feeling that the big city isn’t for her, and once again she is striving, only this time it’s for the right words, the right clothes, the right foods. No matter what she tries she’s not right. Until she is. In that last year of her degree the city opens up to her, she is saying the right things, doing the right things. Until her parents visit for her graduation and events show her that her life has always been about pretending and now she’s lost all sense of who she is and what she’s supposed to be doing.
‘Books offered me a gauzy version of reality and I stepped hungrily into it’
REVIEW: I really, really enjoyed the reading experience I had with this book. The chapters are so short and are like little titbits of information of a disjointed narrative but it works so well. The short chapters are not only perfect for someone who gets a spare five minutes here and there to read, but they also make the book feel very much like a diary which I tend to enjoy. This sort of narrative form really makes you feel like you’re looking into someone’s very private life but it also makes the narrator/protagonist quite complicated and unreliable because we are only seeing the story through one pair of eyes.
The story itself really focuses on our main character Lucy growing up. It focuses on her relationship with her self destructive and distant mother, her alcoholic and emotionally abusive father and her deaf brother which are all equally described so delicately, it definitely felt like emotional literary fiction. I felt like through the story, Lucy was taking these individual memories of her relationships with each family member to understand how she feels about those experiences, each written so lyrically and honestly.
Part three, where Lucy is at University, was my favourite part of the story because we finally start to see Lucy’s personality, ambition and talent come through in the experiences/memories we’re given access to. Reading about Lucy trying to navigate around University and the people you meet at University was so relatable to me and there was some absolutely stunning prose in this part (which I’ve included in my review so you can see exactly what I mean) that I felt like I was being seen loud and clear by Andrews.
Don’t let the format and the disjointed nature of this book put you off because believe me when I say that you will want to underline so many quotes in this book because Andrews just perfectly sums up feelings that we might not have processed ourselves yet. A beautiful, lyrical and raw story but one that I thoroughly enjoyed to its core.
READ THIS IF:
This is a book that I’ve seen lurking around social media for so long now as part of the lead up to its publication earlier in March. Now it helps when a book is as gorgeous as it is brilliant so I can see why everyone has been raving about this one. So saying that, I wanted a piece of the pie and decided to finish my March off by reading this mystical novel.
SYNOPSIS: Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened in that submarine, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.
REVIEW: The book is only 250 pages but my god so much happens and the tension builds at such a fantastic pace. Part of that tension building is as a result of the short, quick chapters which give us titbits of information which make us more confused and eager to find out more. So from the first 20 pages, I was hooked and I loved the format of the book which switched from Miri’s narrative to her wife Leah’s. Leah’s narrative was told in the past and in a diary format whilst she was on board the submarine, whereas Miri’s narrative brings us back to the present and explains to us how her life has changed so much since Leah’s trip and return.
I felt incredibly sorry for Miri as it was clear that she was really missing the wife she used to have but it will come as no surprise that Leah is not coping with the return to life on land and it's this relationship dynamic that makes the story just as sad as it is weird.
The idea that you would be stuck on a submarine at the very bottom of the ocean with no way of getting back up to land has got to be one of my worst nightmares and I loved Leah’s description of life on the submarine during this time because it was so wonderfully weird and uncanny. I also thought that by splitting the book up into parts based on the deep-sea trenches, and the book becoming scarier and stranger the deeper the submarine falls and the deeper we go into the story was absolutely fantastic and an element of the book that makes it so special and original.
I would say that the ending is quite ambiguous but I suppose the magic of the book is to let the reader decide what happened for themselves which too makes the story so unique. I would love to discuss the book with anyone who has read it because there are SO many questions and theories that I had whilst I was reading it and I have to say, I was absolutely hooked on this book and for 250 pages, this little strange story will take over your life.
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened in that submarine, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.
REVIEW: The book is only 250 pages but my god so much happens and the tension builds at such a fantastic pace. Part of that tension building is as a result of the short, quick chapters which give us titbits of information which make us more confused and eager to find out more. So from the first 20 pages, I was hooked and I loved the format of the book which switched from Miri’s narrative to her wife Leah’s. Leah’s narrative was told in the past and in a diary format whilst she was on board the submarine, whereas Miri’s narrative brings us back to the present and explains to us how her life has changed so much since Leah’s trip and return.
I felt incredibly sorry for Miri as it was clear that she was really missing the wife she used to have but it will come as no surprise that Leah is not coping with the return to life on land and it's this relationship dynamic that makes the story just as sad as it is weird.
The idea that you would be stuck on a submarine at the very bottom of the ocean with no way of getting back up to land has got to be one of my worst nightmares and I loved Leah’s description of life on the submarine during this time because it was so wonderfully weird and uncanny. I also thought that by splitting the book up into parts based on the deep-sea trenches, and the book becoming scarier and stranger the deeper the submarine falls and the deeper we go into the story was absolutely fantastic and an element of the book that makes it so special and original.
I would say that the ending is quite ambiguous but I suppose the magic of the book is to let the reader decide what happened for themselves which too makes the story so unique. I would love to discuss the book with anyone who has read it because there are SO many questions and theories that I had whilst I was reading it and I have to say, I was absolutely hooked on this book and for 250 pages, this little strange story will take over your life.
READ THIS IF:
So in my mission to read the majority of the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction nominees before the winner is announced this summer, I thought I’d start with a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time now.
SYNOPSIS: Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.
In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.
Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicised chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.
REVIEW: I was really excited to read this one but my stupid brain/memory saw the likeness between this and Daisy Jones and The Six so it took me a while to settle into the story. I found myself waiting to love it as much as Daisy Jones, waiting for that moment where the lightbulb went off in my head and I was like ‘ahh OK, I’m enjoying this now’ but sadly I don’t think that moment came.
I found that I couldn’t gel with the characters. Perhaps intentionally, I found all the characters quite one dimensional and frankly, self-indulgent and annoying. I found myself reading the story after about 125 pages, thinking do I like these characters? Do I care for them? And I’m still undecided now.
Yet, I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of success story as well as the lead up to the BIG event that frames Opal and Nev’s music career. I liked reading all the different characters explaining the defining moments that lead up to that event, reflecting on how if it was different, it might not have happened. I really enjoy books like that, that build up to something and I felt Dawnie Walton executed this incredibly well. Yet after the event happened, I thought the story fell quite flat and yet again, I found I was asking myself whether I cared for these characters enough to keep reading their story.
So I’d say give this book a go if you enjoy books that are written in biography/autobiography style and if you have a clever enough brain to differentiate this between Daisy Jones and The Six. Perhaps if you didn’t like Daisy Jones, you might find yourself liking this. The characters for me lacked real emotion and defining characteristics but I thought the exploration into the racism in the music industry in the 1970s to be absolutely brilliant and very well executed by Walton!
SYNOPSIS: Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.
In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.
Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicised chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.
REVIEW: I was really excited to read this one but my stupid brain/memory saw the likeness between this and Daisy Jones and The Six so it took me a while to settle into the story. I found myself waiting to love it as much as Daisy Jones, waiting for that moment where the lightbulb went off in my head and I was like ‘ahh OK, I’m enjoying this now’ but sadly I don’t think that moment came.
I found that I couldn’t gel with the characters. Perhaps intentionally, I found all the characters quite one dimensional and frankly, self-indulgent and annoying. I found myself reading the story after about 125 pages, thinking do I like these characters? Do I care for them? And I’m still undecided now.
Yet, I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of success story as well as the lead up to the BIG event that frames Opal and Nev’s music career. I liked reading all the different characters explaining the defining moments that lead up to that event, reflecting on how if it was different, it might not have happened. I really enjoy books like that, that build up to something and I felt Dawnie Walton executed this incredibly well. Yet after the event happened, I thought the story fell quite flat and yet again, I found I was asking myself whether I cared for these characters enough to keep reading their story.
So I’d say give this book a go if you enjoy books that are written in biography/autobiography style and if you have a clever enough brain to differentiate this between Daisy Jones and The Six. Perhaps if you didn’t like Daisy Jones, you might find yourself liking this. The characters for me lacked real emotion and defining characteristics but I thought the exploration into the racism in the music industry in the 1970s to be absolutely brilliant and very well executed by Walton!
I decided to read The Bell Jar as it has been sitting on my book trolley for a while now and as I was preparing my bag for my work trip to London, the book just grabbed my attention. As it’s only 294 pages, I thought it would be a great read for a 4 hour round-trip. I also have a beautiful copy of the 2001 edition by Faber and Faber.
SYNOPSIS: The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
REVIEW: First of all, I think one trope that I love is complicated, self-destructive narrators, especially female narrators and our protagonist and narrator, Esther Greenwood, is exactly that. She is a complicated and slightly unreliable narrator who quite clearly has a very destructive personality and damaging relationship with basically everyone around her, from her fellow colleagues at the magazine and ‘friends’, to the strange men she meets, her ex-boyfriend and her mother.
I guess for me, the book felt like it fell into two parts. Part one, in my opinion, was Esther’s life when she was living and working in New York with a bunch of other young women for a magazine. Even this storyline was weird too - she was obviously an intern at the magazine but her boss would plan out the girls’ days and book events for them to go to which seemed very inappropriate. In this part of the book, Esther seems to be enjoying her time in New York but hating her time at the magazine even though she wants to be an accredited writer. She doesn’t seem to care about anything other than getting attention from the people around her. She consistently makes reference to how the other girls on the internship are so rich they are bored but I think she was bored too.
Another part of the story was the constant mention of a boy named 'Buddy Willard', who seems to be Esther’s ex love interest. As the book develops, we learn more and more about this far from normal relationship and how Buddy became Esther’s obsession.
I’d then say that part two of the book is after Esther leaves her internship in New York and heads back home after an awful event with the guy in the alley and finding out she didn't get onto the writing course she wanted. Part two for me was a completely different book/story from part one. Esther becomes more and more psychotic after returning home and subsequently, the whole narrative becomes very jumpy in the second part of the book which I think Plath wanted to include to demonstrate Esther's state of mind.
Although the second part of the book was difficult to read, I did find the first part o the book to be really easy to read and quite encapsulating. It was clear that Esther was a very self-destructive and chaotic character who I think got a kick out of shocking the people around her by doing quite out of the ordinary things. I found her sometimes to be quite an unreliable character because in the second part of the book, she keeps saying how she isn’t sleeping but the doctors around her are telling her they saw her sleeping. I did like this impact of the book and even though it was quite shockingly disturbing, I did find Plath’s humour, as well as pain, coming through the book which was quite something to experience. I’d also say that as this book was written in 1963, some parts of the narrative haven't aged well and there is a lot of reference to suicide, mental health and abuse.
READ THIS IF:
SYNOPSIS: The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
REVIEW: First of all, I think one trope that I love is complicated, self-destructive narrators, especially female narrators and our protagonist and narrator, Esther Greenwood, is exactly that. She is a complicated and slightly unreliable narrator who quite clearly has a very destructive personality and damaging relationship with basically everyone around her, from her fellow colleagues at the magazine and ‘friends’, to the strange men she meets, her ex-boyfriend and her mother.
I guess for me, the book felt like it fell into two parts. Part one, in my opinion, was Esther’s life when she was living and working in New York with a bunch of other young women for a magazine. Even this storyline was weird too - she was obviously an intern at the magazine but her boss would plan out the girls’ days and book events for them to go to which seemed very inappropriate. In this part of the book, Esther seems to be enjoying her time in New York but hating her time at the magazine even though she wants to be an accredited writer. She doesn’t seem to care about anything other than getting attention from the people around her. She consistently makes reference to how the other girls on the internship are so rich they are bored but I think she was bored too.
Another part of the story was the constant mention of a boy named 'Buddy Willard', who seems to be Esther’s ex love interest. As the book develops, we learn more and more about this far from normal relationship and how Buddy became Esther’s obsession.
I’d then say that part two of the book is after Esther leaves her internship in New York and heads back home after an awful event with the guy in the alley and finding out she didn't get onto the writing course she wanted. Part two for me was a completely different book/story from part one. Esther becomes more and more psychotic after returning home and subsequently, the whole narrative becomes very jumpy in the second part of the book which I think Plath wanted to include to demonstrate Esther's state of mind.
Although the second part of the book was difficult to read, I did find the first part o the book to be really easy to read and quite encapsulating. It was clear that Esther was a very self-destructive and chaotic character who I think got a kick out of shocking the people around her by doing quite out of the ordinary things. I found her sometimes to be quite an unreliable character because in the second part of the book, she keeps saying how she isn’t sleeping but the doctors around her are telling her they saw her sleeping. I did like this impact of the book and even though it was quite shockingly disturbing, I did find Plath’s humour, as well as pain, coming through the book which was quite something to experience. I’d also say that as this book was written in 1963, some parts of the narrative haven't aged well and there is a lot of reference to suicide, mental health and abuse.
READ THIS IF: