wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

This is the story of a child called Silence who is born a daughter to Earl Cador and his lady wife but because of a degree by the King that girl children will never inherit, Silence is raised as a young boy. As Silence gets older and learns the truth about who he is, he dreams of becoming a knight only his father's fear of discovery holds him back until he runs away.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was a fine listen - the story is entertaining and there is an earnestness to the good old fashioned medieval tale of knighthood and virtue that lends a charm to the overall tale.

Silence's story is a unique one and it's hard at times to see him suffer from both the confusion of being in two places at once with a body that does not quite match how he feels about himself, and also the constant fear of what would happen if his truth was found out. But I loved how Silence proved himself, to his own self and to others, again and again whenever there was a doubt about his ability to be a knight and he was kind, talented, strong and brave for the entirety of the tale.

I think there were parts of this book that the pacing suffered a little bit and it feels like some of the things Silence really wants for himself take a long time to come around, and then when they do enter Evil Queen.

I did find the ending slightly depressing though (more so in character reactions rather than anything else) though there were good points made, and I loved Silence's final acceptance of who he was and how he wanted to live in the future. 

Starting in the 1990s, Becky follows the ambitious Rebecca Sharp as she makes her way into the world, determined to make something of herself - and achieve her dream of becoming a successful journalist. Fast forward 5 years, and she is now a writer in The Mercury, and about to break a Royal scandal of epic proportions.

This book is a mix between Vanity Affair (the character names and relationships and the drive we see in Becky), and also mimics the career path of IRL journalist and news editor Rebecca Brooks, and the News of the World phone hacking scandals at the time. I thought I was making up the connections between Becky, and the IRL Rebecca until I double checked my facts and realised this was 100% a connection the author was going for, with a fairly heavy hand.

This book is mostly about ambition and striding towards it with everything you have. The relationships Becky forms in her life, from that with her husband Rawdon, her lover George and frenemy Amelia, are minor compared to her relationship with The Mercury and her love of her job. And while I wouldn't say by any means Becky is a likable protagonist, that doesn't mean I didn't like her. I actually quite admired her one track mind, and her ballsy movements within a world saturated by men. This book was also a reminder of that mad tabloid era from the 90s Princess Di moments to the early 2000s - and while I wouldn't say by any means the tabloids are better now, there was just something bigger, splashier about them then before social media and online news.

I found this book entertaining, and when I connected the story with its IRL inspiration, I actually enjoyed it more. 

 In Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, we follow the friendship of Sam and Sadie from the first moments they meet - and bond - over a Super Mario game in the hospital, through their reconnection in college and their forging together off their skills to make a video game company. We see them both suffer highs and lows from relationships, chronic health issues and grief - and while their friendship gets weaker and stronger at different times, the ties that bind them are never cut.

When I tell you this book had a hold on me! I honestly didn't want to do anything else except read this book, and I love that feeling. I felt so engrossed and connected to Sam and Sadie's story (plus Marx) and I just couldn't put this book down until I swallowed it all up.

This book is emotional and tense at times, and let me tell you, the characters can be utterly frustrating as well in how they act towards one another. There were times in the book I was so annoyed them (tbh mostly Sadie) and better communication would have been the key to a lot of problem solving.

While both Sadie and Sam had their flaws in this book, I have to say Sadie definitely annoyed me more with some of her reactions - Sam was going through a lot in this book due to a childhood injury, he lives with chronic pain and disability, and eventually has to amputate his foot. He has every right to be moody, and stay home while recovering from his foot being chopped off. What's not right is Sadie ignoring him, giving him the silent treatment because she thinks he did something for his own benefit years earlier (not to mention how was he suppose to know the ins and outs of a relationship that didn't turn bad until after this event, and it's someone she remained friends with anyway. It all made no sense and was so frustrating). Sam had his tantrums and emotional meltdowns and jealousy but he also always came back from them, and worked despite it all and he never really shut Sadie out the way she did him on multiple occasions.

My MVP of this book was 100% Marx - he is that type of goofy, handsome, perfect guy that couldn't possibly ever be real but I just loved the way he was the perfect glue that fit Sadie and Sam together, and how unconditionally he loved them both.

The pacing of the novel was really good though I do think maybe it felt a little bit rushed near the end, and time skips forward very quickly. We see very little of Sadie as a mother, and I think I would have liked to have more time with that and Sam bonding with the child, especially as Sadie was such a pioneer for women in tech, seeing her be a mother as well would have been good.

This book would have been a 5 stars for me but the last quarter of the book just didn't hook me as well as I wanted it to. I felt disappointed in the characters, and how the responded to the grief and trauma from the defining incident near the end of the book - I understand grief affects people in different ways and while we saw Sam, who had already been through so much, bounce back and get things up and running again, Sadie once again shut Sam out for really no reason at all, and decided to hate him - again, for no reason at all? Surely it goes against everything your lost loved one would want for you, if you shut out the person they loved the most, swill their company down the drain and give up on everything? Honestly, Sadie was so annoying.

I loved the video game element in here - and while I'm not a massive gamer, I would call myself a passive gamer maybe. I love games like The Sims, Disney Dreamlight Valley and Ori so some of the games Sam and Sadie created sounded right up my alley. I'd love to play Maplewood or even Pioneer! This made me want to game (which was also hard as I wanted to read so much, haha) and it also made me appreciate all the art, time and skill that goes into making games you kind of just take for granted. 

It's been eight years since the events of Queen of Nothing, and while Cardan and Jude continue to rule Elfhame, Prince Oak is all grown up, and quite frequently dealing with attempts on his life. When Oak's father Madoc is taken by the cruel, vicious Lady Nore, Oak has no choice but to seek out Wren - Lady Nore's lost daughter who has been hiding out in the human world - for help. The two young royals, along with companions set out on a quest to help Madoc and defeat Lady Nore but at what price?

Listen, I'm just total trash for anything Holly Black and Elfhame - I eat it all up and then I beg for more and this was no different. I loved being back in the world of Elfhame, and the world of dark, twisty and frightening fairy folk who slay skin, eat dreams and laugh in the face of pain and fear. The Stolen Heir is different to the original trilogy as we are following all fairy folk rather than a mortal in a fairy world. Things were always at such a high stake for Jude in the original trilogy as she tried to defeat fairies at their own game while not having their magic, strength or beauty - but with The Stolen Heir, Wren has blue hair, dark eyes and sharp skin - she is monstrous enough people scream when they see her but she's different because she remembers her early years when she grew up as a changeling in the human world, and the moments in the faerie world when the only kindness she saw was that given to her by a young princeling called Oak.

Oak is so grown up in this book, it's often hard and a little bit nostalgic to remember him as the little horned mischief maker that he was in the original trilogy, and that he was the one Jude sought to protect for those three books. I like seeing him grown up though and with his own quest, and skills and you can see Jude, Cardan and Madoc in him in equal measure at different points. It's sad to think his life was that bit harder than a reader would wish for that despite Jude's success in Queen of Nothing, Oak isn't a stranger to being in mortal danger a lot of the time because of who he is.

I really liked the dynamic between Wren and Oak - they were sweet around one another, and were drawn together as well as having the warm memories of their childhood games and friendship yet at the same time you just know one of them will betray the other, we just have to read on and wait, and see what happens.

While there wasn't a whole load of surprises for me by the end of the book, I still enjoyed all the drama, and I was a bit shocked at the turns Wren makes by the end of the book and the decisions she goes through with. Really can't wait for the next book but I have to wait so long! 

I listened to this on audiobook and it was narrated by the author and the narration was a 5/5 stars - I just loved the voice of Juliet so much and how the author portrayed her worry, sadness, excitement and enthusiasm in such a lovely way via audiobook.

This book is set in 2003, and we follow 19-year-old Juliet who is a queer, Puerto Rican girl born and raised in the Bronx, New York and about to set off on a summer of feminist, queer revelation by interning with her favourite feminist writer. But first, Juliet has to come out to her family, which doesn't go too well and Juliet throws herself into her internship and starts an amazing journey into feminism, being brown and queer and standing up for herself and who she is.

God, I just loved this. This book felt fresh, and so authentic and Juliet as a character was 10/10 I loved her. I wanted to kiss her and hug her, while at the same time be her best friend and be there with her as she tread this amazing path of self-discovery and found herself in all these amazing queer spaces, and surrounded by women just like her.

There are sections in this book that are all about Juliet's feminist icon Harlow - is very much a hippy dippy white feminist type - who very much equates womanhood with periods and vaginas, but I loved how this was later discussed in the book and as Juliet learned more about sexual and gender identity, she learned how Harlow was wrong to be connecting genitals with gender in such a way. This is only one of the few ways we see how Harlow has it wrong in the book, and I appreciated how Harlow was called out by people in her circle when she did things wrong (but wow, she really needed to be quiet sometimes). I will say Harlow wasn't as bad as I thought she was going to be considering the first scene with her includes her talking about Juliet's aura. I did actually appreciate the last scene between Juliet and Harlow and the two of them clearing the air and ending on a good note with each other.

Juliet's self confidence in herself and her identity just soars in this book and it was such a pleasure to go on the journey with her. I actually didn't even spot that the book was set in 2003 until there was a conversation about 9/11 and I think that when a book feels timeless like Juliet does, it's a winner.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, and really urge people to try out the audiobook. Juliet may be one of me new favourite characters of all time, she's definitely snuck into my heart and is it too much to ask Gabby Rivera to write Juliet cameos in any other books she's coming out with as I would love to see where Juliet ends up! 

This is a non fiction book looking at love, relationships and all those in betweens during the Medieval Times. While the title is a little eye catching - this book is not all about sex, but it looks at how relationships were treated and judged during the 1300s particularly from courtship to marriages including arranged marriages, marriageable age, sexual relationships from love matches to adultery as well as the processes and traditions around childbirth, infants and infant death. I also enjoyed the chapters that looked at sons versus daughters, and if people in the medieval period truly valued and loved their daughters or just always wanted sons.

As someone who loved reading historical fiction, not all in this book was new to me but I found it a helpful companion to teach me some things about the type of time periods I like to read about in books, and opened my eyes not just to how the nobility and upper class live (which these books normally follow) but also those of the poorer class and how at times they had greater freedom to marry and love than those who were wealthy.

There are sections in this book around abduction, rape, domestic abuse and child abuse and how these types of instances were treated in the medieval period (spoiler, they almost always got away with it, shock) and some of the real life examples were truly horrific to read about so just a warning about those.

I think the book ended kind of abruptly for me, there was no real conclusion or anything at the end to wrap things up and I felt a bit jolted from my reading when it immediately went from the book itself to the appendix. I don't think this book is amazing, and wouldn't class it as a must read but as a lover of historical fiction, I did find it interesting enough. 

In 1838, author George Sand travels to an abandoned monastery in Mallorca to spend the winter there with her children and her lover, the musician Frédéric Chopin. Their life there, and their unconventional ways, are observed and admired by a lonely ghost called Blanca who has been haunting the island for over 300 years since she died at 14 years old. As Blanca's love for George grows, so does the antagonism of the locals towards the foreigners.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read with very likeable characters in their eccentricities and individuality, and it just felt like a nice warm companion of a story even though there were some tougher topics explored in this book such as death, sickness and predatory behaviour.

I didn't know anything about George Sand before reading this book and I'm not a musical person so while I recognise the name Chopin, it also doesn't mean much to me. But I really liked learning more about George and her relationship with others, and I admired a woman like her who yes, is wrapped up in her own privilege as a wealthy white woman but still tackled social norms by shunning dresses for suits, and making her way on her own with her writing at a time it was very hard for women to live independent lives.

Blanca was obviously the star character (plus Adelaide the goat obviously) and I was amused and intrigued by her in equal measure as bit by bit we get her own story, just knowing all the time that her death is someway related to the monks who previously inhabited the monastery. Her story is so sad, yet one that I doubt is uncommon in history but her life as a ghost was one of guardianship, the occasional haunting and terrorising (or poltergeist behaviour I guess) but only to those who deserved it. I love how this book gives Blanca the chance to 'live again' and explore further than she has done before. 

When Benjamin Bowen and his brother Edgar set off on their Grand Tour of Europe to really see and live the culture and sights their erudite mother has spent their life teaching them, they have no idea that what they counter will implode their family. Horace Lavelle, loud, brash and sarcastic bewitches Benjamin and slowly takes him away from his brother, and his family until what is left behind is utter devastation.

This book is basically about a young gay man ignorant of the real world, and hiding his true feelings about himself and who he is from everyone, meeting someone who sees him and makes him feel alive. This book is a hard one to review as the story and the writing aren't necessarily bad but I can't rate this book higher as I just thought the characters were all so horrible and selfish - and I just felt so sad for what happen to Benjamin's family - and how he didn't really seem to care or understand it was all his fault for allowing Lavelle into his life.

Lavelle was someone who had childhood trauma of sexual abuse and his story is so incredibly sad but that doesn't mean he can be excused for so many of his actions. He practically brainwashes Benjamin, and the way he treated Edgar was so awful - I couldn't understand how Benjamin could be happy being around someone who would treat their loved one in such a way. And he also just forgot that it was Lavelle's fault that Edgar did what he did. This is a story about a toxic relationship but the character never really sees it as toxic, and it's probably only the reader that does and at that, probably not every reader depending how one feels about Lavelle.

I also felt so sorry for Benjamin's parents who by the end of the book are made out to be some wicked villains, when all they had done was perhaps shield their children a little bit too much from the real world. There were some real uncomfortable moments in this when Ben talks to his mother about her hiding her Jewish heritage from them, and makes her feel so bad and at fault, it was really awful.

This book just made me feel sad because the characters were all horrible and nothing redeeming happened to them. The only one who deserved better was Edgar whose only real fault was being a bit of a brown nose to those higher up the social class. 

The year is 1912, and four girls from Dublin, Ireland are presented with the opportunity of a lifetime - to travel on the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York, and change their lives forever. Josefa gathers Violet. Emilie and Hinnah on a mission to take a rare book encrusted with gemstones during the voyage on a heist like no other she's planned but things get complicated when old faces appear on board and well, we all know the history of the Titanic.

I was so excited to read this from the moment I first heard Adiba was coming out with it. I mean, a sapphic heist story set on the Titanic, it has to be brilliant. And yet, unfortunately I feel a bit disappointed. This wasn't a bad book by any means, it was just lacking a lot of excitement and action I wanted from a heist or even any Oceans 8/ Six of Crows type of intelligence. I think this book had an amazing premise but the execution left a lot to be desired and fell flat for me.

The heist story was a little bit of a mess to be honest - it never really felt like something that was even doable - the plans were not very good and predictably it all fell apart almost as soon as they boarded the ship. I would have liked more time with each character as they all had important stories to be told and it felt like they were all rushed (other than Josefa who appeared to just be a spoiled brat running away from a life of privilege), and more time building all the girls relationships with one another as Josefa and Emilie go from 0-100 quite quickly.

The setting was also such a let down - it's the Titanic and yet for most of the book you could easily forget what ship you were on and at times, that they were on a ship at all. I would have loved more about what they were seeing, who they were seeing - the atmosphere of being on the ship of a lifetime, the views from the deck, the cold feeling of the Arctic air on their skin as they sailed into iceberg territory, the blanket of stars in the sky. Yes, there was a little nod to Jack and Rose in Titanic with a chase through the boiler room followed by a romantic moment but it wasn't enough for me.

The sinking of the ship was also very quick and I don't know how I really felt about these scenes. I'm also convinced Josefa wouldn't have survived having been in the water before she found the overturned lifeboat - surely her clothes would have frozen and she would have got hypothermia.

Despite my complaints, this wasn't a bad book and I think many readers will enjoy the friendship, the fast pacing and the historical setting - it just wasn't quite the book I had in mind when I began to read it. I also really appreciated Adiba's author notes at the end talking about some of the historical liberties she took, and discussing the Titanic's history with Ireland and the BIPOC passengers that would have been on board Titanic.