wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

When James Spencer wakes up in his car outside school on a Friday morning, he knows it's going to be a bad day. From remembering that it's been one year to the day since his mother died in an accident, leaving him and his dad alone in their grief, to getting into an argument with his old crush Clara Hart about a phantom parking bump, he's ready to let loose at his friend Anthony's house party. But things go from bad to worse when Clara ends up dead at the end of the night, and the next morning Spence wakes up in his car again to realise it's Friday, again, and he has to repeat the day. Will he be able to save Clara? And what is he really suppose to be facing during this Groundhog Day moment?

This was a fast, addictive read that I couldn't put down. I really loved the main character James Spencer aka 'Spence' and he really did feel like an 18-year-old boy, on the verge of adulthood but still cloistered in the toxic fugue of lad culture, drinking and not really knowing anything about the opposite sex. Spence isn't a bad character, in fact he's rather sweet and becomes sweeter as the repetitive Fridays makes him not only more self-aware but also wakens him up to what's going on around him - the toxic masculinity of his friend group, and the danger some of the girls are in because of this. It takes Spence a while to see what he's fighting as he does everything to try and make things okay from befriending Clara, drinking the night away, and even exiting himself from the situation entirely. But Clara keeps ending up dead, and Friday keeps repeating.

This is a fantastic book looking at toxic masculinity from the inside out. I think this would be such an important book for YA readers, particularly male readers, as they think about what's said in those infamous lad Whatsapp groups, and how 'it's a joke' doesn't cut it. Words have meaning even if they are just said in a private group message - there's always one lad who thinks it's okay to take it further, to say it to the girls, to get his way no matter what, even if she isn't capable of consent.

This book is about the courage it takes to face yourself and your own actions, as well as that of standing up to a friend and telling them, 'no, this isn't right and I'm not going to let you act this way.' About ownership of your mistakes and not hiding from them, and apologising to those you hurt even when you didn't know they were hurting.

Definitely recommend this book. 

The second book in the Girls of Paper and Fire trilogy, this focuses on Lei and Wren as they escape from the Hidden Palace under the belief they have managed to kill the emperor, and join Wren's father and his forces as they continue plotting the rebellion to bring the kingdom back to a fair and just place. But things don't go to plan - the Emperor isn't dead, and Lei begins to see elements of the rebellion and Wren's family plans that don't align with her own beliefs and cracks begin to show in their relationship that threaten to drive them apart.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It's definitely a bit more ploddy than the first book, though it has more world building than the first as Lei and Wren travel to different places and the reader sees the different type of noble families and other types of demons that exist in the world, and aren't exactly in tune with the Emperor themselves. I liked the little band of characters that formed in this book as well as the group travelled to bring people to their cause - and while I think some things were written in for shock factor, and came a bit too early to really cause distress (certain deaths among the group), I did like the reminders that stakes are high and no-one is safe.

Lei goes through some great character building in this book as she begins to figure out who Lei the rebel aka the Moonchosen is, away from her family and from her life as a Paper Girl in the Hidden Palace. Here she can be with her lover openly, as well as learn how to fight for those she loves. I do think Lei is still very naive and earnest about a lot of things.

There are some nice bonus chapters in this book where the reader can see rebellion and spy work ripple within the Hidden Palace, and the identities of those working against the Emperor. This was exciting, and looking forward to seeing where it all goes from here. 

 Listened on audiobook, narrated by Kimberly Farr who was fantastic.

I'm going to make a blanket statement that some people may disagree with, but if you do you're wrong, and it's this - Olive Kitteridge is one of the most fantastic, nuanced characters to ever be written and the way Elizabeth Strout writes her in a way that's able to spear into the core of people is just brilliant and genius.

This is the sequel to Olive Kitteridge, and in this one we continue to follow Olive, as well as some of the other residents of her hometown of Crosby, Maine, as Olive gets older, finds love again, and continues to be her honest, crotchety self and all of which that contains.

I just had such a great time reading this via audiobook as the narrator just brought Olive to life in the best way possible, as well as her interactions with her neighbours both young and old and how Olive's honest way of speaking the truth and just being completely herself is able to impress herself on everyone she meets in different ways. She's just Olive and for that she is glorious.

I think Olive contains so much of what makes humans tick and the way the author writes her to bear so many flaws so openly, can make the reader think and examine all the ways they may also be like Olive in different ways whether it be openly like her or secretly ('horrible kids!').

Olive isn't necessarily a 'nice' character - she is a good human being, and a good egg overall but she is big and takes up space with a loud personality, and a fat body - she can be prickly, and rude and tell someone all the things they may not want to hear but also be able to touch someone else with an understanding of a need whether it be company or truth (or in one case, someone to notice that they're having a baby!).

This book is a joyful read but the topics that the story touches on are not light and fluffy by any means. This book focuses on aging and what that entails from leaky bottoms, and diaper-wearing - from dementia, and falling and heart attacks, of loss and widowhood and fear and loneliness. But I appreciated all of this and loved it all even more. 100% recommend this one if you enjoyed Olive Kitteridge. 

Daisy Darker has a bit of a dysfunctional family. No-body gets along but they have all gathered on Halloween to celebrate their Grandmother's 80th birthday and hear what she plans to do with her will and belongings. As the tension grows in the house on an island cut off from the mainland, someone is found dead, and every hour after that someone else is killed off. But who is the killer, someone in the family or is there someone else in the house?

This was a fun, fast-paced read for me and I enjoyed being transported from a rare sunny week in Dublin to a rainy, stormy island off the coast of the UK. Daisy's family makes any other family drama look tame and for this I also liked it - a representation of a not so perfect family, and one that is so imperfect they all fairly calm when they start being killed off one by one.

This felt like a Knives Out-esque type of novel mixed in with a bit of Agatha Christie which resulted in a fun time.

I did have some issues with the characters - Daisy felt very immature a lot of the time, and I couldn't understand the infantilization of Trixie as well who was 15 years old but often treated as if she was 8. The others in the family are so bad and over the top, that they did feel a little but unrealistic from Rose's superior attitude to Lily's downright terrible behaviour towards everyone. But in saying all of that, I still enjoyed the pace and plot of the book and I was very intrigued as to what was going on.

There was a good twist near the end of the book that I'm surprised I didn't see coming, but also helped explain some of my issues with the book at the start. I love twists that make you want to reread the book all over again armed with the new information to spot all the clues and this definitely made me want to do that! 

Liv Green isn't necessarily living her best life. A 42-year-old married mum of two, she dreams of bigger things than cleaning other people's homes and ends up getting the perfect opportunity when her employer, best-selling author Essie Starling, disappears and leaves Liv with a task - finish writing her last book. But to write a story that is true to Essie, Liv and the thousands of fans who have followed character Georgia Rory for 20 books, Liv must dig deeper in the the elusive author's life.

I really like the concept of this book particularly as someone who dreams of being a writer one day but often can't find the time or motivation to pick up that pen. I also really appreciated that our main character Liv in this book is in her early forties and we are following someone with 20 years of marriage behind her, plus two almost grown children. I think with some cleaning up of parts of this story and a good script, this book could be turned into a really fun movie for Netflix (I don't want to say chick flick but more of a women-focused movie, you get me?). Unfortunately that might be where my appreciation for this story stops as I just didn't find it very good.

There was something about Liv and her life that rubbed me up the wrong way from the very start and from the first chapter, something soured in me about the entire book and I just had that feeling it might not be a good one for me and I was right. Liv and her husband have such an awful dynamic between them and it just was never very nice to read or be a part of, and even with her sons I also never found much connection there at all.

The character of Essie was very over the top, and there were a lot of things in this story about how Liv and Anthony could lie about Essie for so long, plus Liv write her manuscript that felt very unbelievable for me (like surely the publishers and editors should be in the loop, no?). The excerpts from the Essie Starling books as well starring character Georgia Rory were also terrible - please tell me how that reads like best seller material.

I read another review that likened this book to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and they are dead on. From Liv somehow needing to know about all of Essie's past romances to be able to write her characters, and then a bit of a silly twist at the end this is like the Poundland version of Evelyn Hugo.

This is a book that I read, and I'm glad it's over now to be honest. I would probably just recommend people read Evelyn Hugo instead or if you're a screenwriter adapt this for a movie as it would be so good.