wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

In the second book in The Marionettes series, blood witch Valerie Darkmore continues battling some dark secrets as she and her vampire partner Prince Reginald investigate a series of brutal killings in the area.

This was another fun read, and I could definitely see some improvements from the first book even in the lessening of the amount of plot points around Valerie. In this book, the story was allowed to breathe a bit more and we focused on the after effects of the wendigo attack on Valerie, and the changes it's made to her hunger levels - and who she feeds from. I do think, similar to the first book, that Connor feels like a non-story and I really didn't care about him and his new vampire struggles in this one (also Val, you're telling me you've been with Connor for YEARS and you've never experienced an orgasm with him?!?). Unless Connor becomes a more major player in the third or fourth book, he hardly needed to be included at all.

I really enjoyed the spicy scene we got in this book, and honestly I never thought a bathroom (a shared one at that) could become so sexy but it did! The chemistry between Valerie and Reid has been strong from the very start but it was off the wall in this book, and that chapter which included a bed sharing scene (in a dormitory with many others around) and the tension from the sexiness plus the need to be quiet was electric.

Again, the book ends on a cliffhanger though not quite as shocking or abrupt as the first book. Still one that has made me really excited for the third book! 

When Claire Walsh is told by her husband, the morning she'd just delivered their baby, that he's met someone else and he's leaving her, she's understandably devastated. She ends up packing her things, and heading home to Ireland to the safety nest of her chaotic family home with her mam, dad and sisters. Healing her heart, and learning to look after her daughter on her own, Claire has a lot of strength to find.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was definitely an entertaining read. I've read one other Marian Keyes book before, one of her latest releases, but I've always wanted to start from the start and go from there and Watermelon is just an impressive debut book - especially knowing Marian's character and style of voice, and how it's developed over the years, it's amazing how she was able to have it come across so strong in her first book and make it very much hers.

I do think there's often a tendency in books of this time and nature to make the men in the story extremely stupid, and I don't think Watermelon was any different but the way gaslighting and manipulative relationships are portrayed in this book - before the term gaslighting was even really used a lot - were so interesting to see. I was practically screaming when Claire was allowing James to convince her everything was her fault.

I do think there were some iffy moments centered on Claire's body weight at the start and how she felt like she needed to lose weight very quickly (she'd literally just had a baby!), but thankfully it wasn't too bad. I'm looking forward to reading more books from the Walsh sisters and hopefully seeing how Claire is doing if she pops into them. 

I received this book from Book Break UK in exchange for an honest review.

30-something year old Fuyuko Irie is used to being alone, never having a close friend in school or in young adulthood. She thinks she's content with her freelance, work from home life, never speaking to many people and occupying herself with her job plus a walk every year on her birthday to see all the Christmas lights out at night time. But one day Fuyuko decides she wants to do more and meets a man called Mitsutsuka, who along with her colleague Hijiri may coax her out of her shell.

This book is very much 'sad girl' vibes - Fuyuko lives an extremely isolated life and while at first, it seems this is what she wants and craves, as we learn more about her there is definitely a sense of loneliness and the feeling of something missing which is when she turns to drinking.

I found the chapters where Fuyuko was drinking quite hard to read, and seeing her treat herself in such a way and putting herself in embarrassing situations. It also felt like there was no real 'reason' behind her drinking other than something to do with her time, and the serious, methodical way she approached it felt quite odd and disconcerting at first. Obviously, we learn about a trauma in Fuyuko's past and that explains why she has retreated from society, and this was also a very hard chapter to read.

I always find Mieko Kawakami's books a beautiful, engrossing read as she writes about stories that in the heart are so simple but she brings out the extraordinary moments in them, and all those special moments within people and between people. I loved the examination on friendship, in all its forms and glory, as well as that of potential romantic relationships and the tenderness, fear and exhilaration - as well as bravery - that is involved in entering one.

I recently read a book called Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin, which is a Korean book about another woman who has been lonely and isolated her whole life. All the Lovers in the Night gave me the save vibes and melancholy feeling as Violets (though All the Lovers feels a bit more hopeful) so if you like this, I'd recommend the other!