wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

Abi has just finished her school exams and is now entering that summer between secondary school and college life - and with dad working away for three weeks, she has the house to herself and the freedom to make some choices to step out of her sheltered upbringing like going to the local underage disco, and finally talking to the cute local boy who works in the chipper.

This was a very sweet story about a sweet girl and there's so much in it that I think would really resonate with another teen reader from Abi's journey with learning more about her Afro hair texture and styling, make-up for her skin and her loneliness at not having a lot of Black female role models in her life and how much she yearns for one. There's also just the normal teen dilemmas from first crushes, uncertainty about the future and friendship that everyone can relate to as well.

I do think some of the writing is very simple and there were times I felt the characters, particularly Abi, read a lot younger - 15 more so than 18 - but I actually found the story as a whole so heartwarming I didn't mind and at the end of the day I'm also not the target audience for this story anyway so I think teen readers won't mind this. 

Róise, Maggie and Harley are all celebrating their big 3-0’s and still living life as if they are college students in a moldy, falling-down house share, shared custody of a turtle called Barnaby and a lot of romantic exploits and dramas still following them around. All three also still mourning the death of their friend Lydia, whose death was sudden and happened before an argument could be resolved.

This book is chaotic and heartwarming showing female friendship at its finest and its worst, and a combination of sad girl/messy girl. Perfect for fans of Caroline O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident or Ghosts by Dolly Alderton.

The pacing and the style of the writing is easy to fly through and you almost feel hungover yourself as you travel along on the girls’ nights out from pub to nightclub to…museum. Grief is a big element in this book as the ghost of Lydia is with them all the time from her room which still holds her vibrator (and yes, Harley thinking about using it was a bit of a step too far), as well as the echoes of their last argument with her and the forgiveness that can never be shared.

Each girl is going through their own stuff - Róise is still reeling a bit from her past relationship but ends up entering a sexual relationship with her boss Adam (who is actually a pretty decent guy) and her issues may end up stalling it before it’s really begun. Maggie, the lesbian of the group, is in a toxic relationship with her ‘friend’ Cate who keeps her at arm’s length but also pulls her in every chance she gets. And then Harley definitely takes too much drugs, likes her landlord/dealer a little bit too much and could probably do with making better, healthier decisions with her sex life.

The book feels more character focused than plot as we follow the girls from one exploit to another, or one mistake to another. TW for some descriptions of disordered eating (stemming from anxiety rather than body image), abortion, and heavy drug and sexual content. I would have liked to have seen a bit more character growth throughout rather than a lot of it being shoehorned in at the end in the last chapter even though it was nice seeing the girls all a bit healthier and happier.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn is one of those magical, fantastical stories that you really have to stick with till the end to feel the true majesty of how it all came together. In this story, we follow Livira, a young girl brought up in the ‘dust’ who is brought to the city after her entire village is slaughtered by a terrifying enemy creature called a Saba. We also follow Evar, a young man who has grown up in the vast and endless library of which Livira has now been brought into as an assistant. As eventually their paths cross, their past and futures become clearer as does the threat of the waiting Sabas outside the city walls. 

 

Magical libraries, time manipulation, animal guardians - there’s not much more I could ask for in a fantasy book. There’s so much in this, I find it hard to review as it’s magical, vicious and heartwarming all at the same time but also the story and world are so complex that you really just need to give the book a chance to the very end to reveal how everything fits together. As a reader, you can’t think too much about how this magical library with portals, endless rows of books and magical animal guardians plus animate stone assistants works, it just does! I saw some reviews refer to Piranesi when talking about this book, and the comparison is very apt - if you liked the magical, mysterious puzzle that was Piranesi and his endless corridors, you would like Evar, Livira and the stacks. 

 

One of the things I love about Mark Lawrence’s writing is that he somehow creates different characters and worlds but then hints at how actually all his stories are taking place in the same world - and that is also our world just years and years and years in the future (Prince of Thorns OGs know this). I liked how the books quoted at the start of each chapter, presumably taken from the library, included quotes from Prince of Thorns but also C.S Lewis and the likes. 

 

One of the nicest things about this book that despite us following the journey of a librarian assistant to librarian, a girl from the dust to a scholar, and a man with no answers to too many - at the end of the day this book is actually a love story. 

 

I listened to this on audiobook and while I don’t listen to a lot of fantasy on audiobook as sometimes I’m afraid of missing things, I really enjoyed it and I think I will also read the second book on audiobook as well. 

Lane Tanner is the youngest person currently living on the moon - recently arrived, and grieving the loss of her big sister - whose invention and leadership led to Lunar Trust One even existing - Lane throws herself into her work as a lunch lady and ignoring her crush on mean girl V. But the threat of enemy forces makes Lane look up from her work to face her sister’s legacy and save it from being destroyed, along with the help of her friends. 

 

This is a sci-fi book for those that might find others in the genre a little bit too action packed - it’s a nice blend between The Expanse series and Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series if you ask me. I’m all here for a cosy sci-fi genre if you ask me. The range of diversity and representation in this book was wonderful, particularly for autistic/neurodivergent rep - we see numerous different representation of autism as well as characters triggers, relaxation methods, communication skills, stimming and masking/unmasking. There’s also characters with prothesis’s , disabilities and color. I also loved the poly rep as we see Lane and her boyfriend Andrea be open to dating different people, and look at becoming a ‘hand’ when they find their perfect matches in three other people already in relationships with one another, and more or less becoming a lovely family. 

 

The book is also big on therapy and mental health - even when there is an end of the world crisis going on, therapy appointments are upheld! I loved the inclusion of a sensory bath for those who needed it as well in the doctor’s office. 

 

The only thing I felt was a bit lacking was the military side of things. I think because the book erred on the cosier side of things, the information about who the RC was and why everyone needed to be so scared of them when they seemed to be some kind of militia led by a narcissistic man (what’s new) kind of passed me by. I would have liked more information on the technical sides of Lunar Trust One and how exactly Faraday went to inventing a gravdrive to helping build a base on the moon for hundreds of people but I guess that is her story and this one is Lane’s. 

 

Overall, this was enjoyable and cosy and I loved all the representation. I’m not 100% sure how much it will all stick with me in terms of being super memorable but I’m glad I read it! 

Dr Terry O'Brien has moved from Glasgow to Dublin to become the new state pathologist and things take a turn when the body of a young woman is brought in. It's obvious the woman was murdered and once she's identified, things start to become more interesting as her case is linked to the death of other young women. But Terry's words about a serial killer are falling among deaf ears at the Garda HQ, and she starts investigating on her own.

This was...okay? Due to the author's experience being a real pathologist, these areas of the book were well written and very informative. I also liked how you could see that even though Terry was investigating the murder, it wasn't really her job and she was warning away from stepping on too many toes unlike other books where the pathologist or coroner is immediately brought in to help every step of the way.

I think the characters felt a bit wooden too me, and not totally like real people. There were elements of the mystery where it felt like Terry and the story was going around in circles and becoming repetitive. I also thought the mushroom angle was a bit out of left field.

Not the worst crime book I've read but not the best.

Orsola Rosso was born into glass. Living in Murano, an island off Venice, her father and brothers are work everyday blowing and shaping glass, and she is the girl looking in, trying to find a place for herself within the art. Her chances comes in the form of beads, her heart in the shape of a Venetian man, and as centuries pass, the Rossos and their glass change along with it.

This was a beautifully told story that will make you want to stand in the bustling streets of Venice, smell the canal water, hear the shouts and singing of the gondoliers and maybe even take the water taxi over to Murano and study the beautiful glassware shining in the windows.

Orsola is a character built of fortitude - made to feel lesser then by her bully of a brother, and forced to do household labour by her mother and sister-in-law, she stills finds ways to make her own art and also have her own moments of joy. She constantly fights for her family, even when they have given up on themselves and the only gripe I would have is she is never truly given the credit she deserves for saving them many times over. As the world changes, Orsola experiences many things but is never in the center of them - I liked this as a way of examining the changes in the world, the affect this had on a trade city like Venice and in turn Murano, while not pushing the character too much into something that would have felt too much for her.

The choice of the author to add the slight magical realism element of having the Rossos and their friends and acquaintances age normally but let the world fast forward around them sometimes skipping almost 100 years was interesting and hard to really understand at first. But I liked seeing how the Rossos dealt with plague, war, Napoleon and then the modern age - we even see the Covid pandemic referenced. I think the story would have worked just as well being stuck in a certain era as I was entranced by Orsola and her personality, her love and her art on its own.