wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

When Elienor 'Nory' Noel travels back to her hometown to attend a school friend's wedding, she's both dreading and looking forward to the reunion with her group of best friends for a myriad of reasons. But Nory also ends up bumping into her old childhood enemy, Isaac and sparks fly immediately.

I really enjoy having a Jenny Bayliss book to look forward to every Christmas, and her characters and stories have kept me company the last three years and Meet Me Under the Mistletoe was exactly what I needed to get me into the Christmas spirit. Similar to A Season for Second Chances, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe isn't necessarily a Christmas read - more so a perfect Winter read as it starts the end of November, and leads up to the Christmas season.

I have said before that Jenny Bayliss is just an expert at creating book settings and locations - particularly small towns and villages you want to live in yourself. I didn't feel this so much in this book but I think the setting of the castle was still really good, and in particular Nory's secondhand bookshop came alive in the pages from the descriptions of the gorgeous Christmas window display and the vintage books up for grabs, to all the cosy armchairs and fairy lights decorating the shop.

The group of friends were all an interesting bunch, all made of money and reeking of privilege yet at the same time all good people who cared for Nory - even Guy, eventually. The story did lean heavily on how friends can be like family, and you love them even when you hate them, and this was made more poignant in the story by the storyline of Tristan, a friend who died by suicide. I thought Tristan's storyline was gently and respectfully done, showcasing the devastation left behind when someone dies in such a way and how friends and family live with that forever. Each time Tristan was mentioned or talked about when the friends were together (particularly in the epilogue) made me well up.

The romance is very sweet, and the third act conflict was an interesting one in terms of not something I had seen before and while part of me didn't like it as I felt Isaac was being stubborn and Nory was too rash with things, I also appreciated that it wasn't a case of silly miscommunication as normally seen in such novels. It was a conflict with a depth and a history to it, and an importance to.

Lots in this I really enjoyed, and it was a pleasant Christmas read to keep me company beside the Christmas tree. 

The world itself seems fascinating and I liked that there was a lot of thought put behind the magic system but I found the story and plot itself was extremely slow to get going, and I was so bored.

Following a case of mistaken headshots, Bee Hobbes is delighted and shocked when she is offered the lead role in a new Christmas movie with the squeaky clean Hope Channel, co-starring beside her teenage crush, ex-boyband member Nolan Shaw who is trying to reinvent his bad boy image. Bee isn't only amazed at her leading role due to her plus size but also her other secret career as a porn star aka Bianca Von Honey. But it turns out that Bee's secret becomes hard to keep when Nolan knows exactly who she is, and loves her because of it.

There was a lot to like and appreciate with this book - Bee's was a fantastic plus size character whose size was only such a small part of the story. She was beautiful, smart and kind as well as sexy and fun and I enjoyed her chemistry with Nolan for the most part, and how her size also added to his overall desire for her as well. I liked that the story did touch on parts and what life would be like for a plus size main role character/leading actress as well as a plus size porn star and what that would entail from hate mail to fetishization.

I also appreciate this book highlighting the sex worker industry and that honestly every single person has a right to engage in safe sex work if they want to as well as carve out a 'cleaner' career for themselves. This book has a variety of characters who are all engaged in sex work in some way from producers to make up and wardrobe, and I enjoyed how they were all a little family to one another.

However, one of the things I didn't like about this book was some of the caricature-ish way some of these sex workers ended up being portrayed as. Characters like Bee's friend and roommate Sunny, who had to have every second sentence come out of her mouth be something sexual, and this happened with many other characters as well and this annoyed be a little bit as I feel it's falling into a stereotype. Not everyone who engages in sex work has to talk about sex all the time.

While I appreciate lots of things in this book, and for the most part the sex/smut scenes were quite good if a little cringe at time (though I do think the 'sex in a church' scene was a bit much and I'm not religious at all), I just never loved this one as much as I wanted to. 

If Bridgerton meets the The Cruel Prince...

When Dora was young, she was cursed by a faerie who left her to live the rest of her life with only half a soul meaning Dora would never again feel the true feelings of happiness, anger or sadness again. Asa young woman, Dora accompanies her cousin to London for her season and by chance meets the Lord Sorcier who may be the magical solution to Dora's faerie problem.

This was the cosiest, loveliest book that I needed and I'm so glad I finally read it after only hearing great things. This is the kind of book that just had me smiling from start to finish and I felt so invested in the story, I never wanted to stop reading (or the book to end tbh).

I adored all of the scenes between Dora and Elias as their relationship moves from annoyance towards each other to amiability to eventual softness and love. It was so lovely witnessing this slow transition from each chapter to the next. I also loved the scenes in Faerie and I've always enjoyed any book that takes the idea of cruel and evil faeries and this did it so well. The ballroom scene in Faerie was fantastic from comedic levels as well as dramatics. Not to mention all the human balls were also lovely simply because of Elias and Dora's interactions and some of the times Elias showcases his magic in beautiful ways.

Dora is a fantastic character full of courage, intelligence and kindness despite believing herself to only be 'half a person'.

I loved this from start to finish, and highly recommend. 

In Web of Lies, author Aoife Gallagher examines the threat of online conspiracy theories from the wacky to the downright dangerous. She also explains and explores the world of Qanon and far-right extremist movements and show how easy it can be for those in a vulnerable place to become radicalised with all sorts of ideas from flat-earth theories to more dangerous anti-covid views or anto-feminist.

I really enjoyed this book and even though the world in which Aoife is explaining is not a new one to me, I found myself learning more about the dark parts of the web that I had blocked out of sight for a bit (but I think it's important to know the existence of these place and be in a position where you can educate others on the dangers of these places). The book is very readable and even though the world of conspiracy theories is vast and can be confusing, Aoife shares her knowledge in a way those with no knowledge of the world can easily digest and I think this is excellent. There is no talking down, or pretentiousness in how the author educated the reader and with such a subject matter, this is so important, and I also really like how Aoife opened the book with sharing how she herself once became victim to conspiracy theories, proving it can happen to anyone and it doesn't mean you are stupid, uneducated or ignorant - ofttimes you may just be in a particular time of your life when something the theorist is pushing lights up your brain and you become vulnerable to believing other information no matter how bizarre it is.

Aoife Gallagher is an Irish author, and while this book looks at conspiracy theories and disinformation/misinformation on a global scale, she is able to drill down several times and show the effects of such movements in Ireland, and even the history of such movements in Ireland (which really shocked me - I had no idea we had so groups in history pushing mad theories like Holocaust denial).

I think this is an important read for everyone, and one that I would recommend to a lot of people from all different walks of life, and who knows, this could save people from believing in disinformation online - or even if it makes people more skeptical to things they are reading without credible sources, that is just brilliant in my eyes.