Review of 'On the Other Side' by Carrie Hope Fletcher

I FINALLY feel like I'm making some headway into getting all my reviews up (though I'm fairly sure I said that back in January and I'm a solid three months behind again). However, this does mean I've got some excellent books to share with you on the way that made for great reads, and I'm so excited to write about them all!

On the Other Side is a story all about love and loss and secrets. 82-year-old Evie dies peacefully in her sleep, but can't quite pass into heaven. Instead she's trapped in a (pretty pleasant) purgatory that exists for her in her old apartment building. Evie's soul is too heavy to pass over into the afterlife; she's too weighed down with the secrets of her past.

Evie's transported back to when she was 27, and deep down she knows exactly what's keeping her at bay, though it's hard to delve into the wounds of her past. Born to a wealthy family, she was forced to leave her one true love, and marry a man with a good title, but in order to leave her past behind her, Evie might have to delve into exactly that, and find her way back to her true self.

The story behind this is like nothing I've heard of, or read before. It really makes me admire Carrie even more because wow it takes a big creative streak to come up with this story. I'm sure there are similar books out there that I've never heard of, but this one really came together well.

The book discusses a whole lot of important topics, including love, loss, friendship and family ties. But one of my favourite things is that the book contained multiple key characters from the LGBTQA community, and that they didn't both have the same sexuality. One character is a gay man who's struggling to come to terms with his feelings in a world and family that has never even considered the possibility of him feeling this way. The other is a pansexual woman who explains being pan in a way that everybody can understand, and I'm so grateful for Carrie putting these in. It's so important that we read diverse books and writers include diverse characters.

There's a whole lot of magical realism in here, so if that's not your thing then you might want to steer clear. But if it is, then this is such a comforting (though tear-jerking) quick read to go for.

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Review of 'The Rumour' by Lesley Kara

I've not read a good thriller in a LONG time, or at least I hadn't before this. I find thrillers either make me all 'oh my GOSH I'll never turn a light off again' or 'wow this person has some very creepy ideas, goes into a LOT of graphic detail and there's not really much plot'. This one (thankfully) fell into the former category. Even though I read this a few months ago now, the writing was so vivid that I can STILL remember specific scenes from the book.

Joanna, our main character, lives in a little town by the sea, a single parent to her son. Still on good terms with his dad (and let's face it, still a little in love with him, though they've never really been a couple), she has a fab support network with her mum helping out too.

Life is peaceful, if not a little boring, until Joanna hears that notorious child killer Sally McGowen is living under a new identity in their home town. Desperate to make some friends at her kid's school (and for him to stop being bullied because of the colour of his skin), Joanna spreads the rumour to a book club. Soon things escalate, and it's all everyone's talking about. 

Joanna begins to suspect almost everyone she knows, and when strange things start happening at school, she finds herself more convinced than ever that Sally's among them. Michael (her baby daddy, for want of a better word), is an investigative journalist, and her son begins to be targeted by someone trying to scare them into stopping looking into things. The whole family are swept up in something they never asked to be a part of, and if Sally killed a child once, what's to stop her doing it again?

I LOVED this book, but if you're going to read it I would recommend ignoring the endorsement quotes on it. There are so many things they spoilered for me in the book by saying things like 'keeps you guessing until the final page' which showed there was a twist on the last page. Just WHY.

It contains a couple of graphic violence scenes, so here's a little trigger warning for that.

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Review of 'This is Going to Hurt' by Adam Kay

This was the first book I finished in 2019, and 16 or so books later (I'm absolutely that behind on reviews), it's still the best book I've read this year. I saw so many people recommending it all over my twitter feed and Instagram, and now I'm one of the people that just will not shut up about it.

Adam Kay is an ex-junior doctor turned author. Seven years after he quit working for the NHS, he's published a collection of diary entries that he found from when he was working in the gynaecology department. These are elaborated on for the book and definitely don't fit the whole 'I got up and ate breakfast at 7am' style.

The book tracks a number of stories that really expose what it's like to be a junior doctor for the NHS. Kay writes about the pressures of the job, the long hours and the absolutely unimaginable strain it puts on you. He talks about how he's expected to perform surgery 10 hours into a shift, but gets pulled over by the police on his way home because he's so exhausted he's not really fit to drive. 

There are some incredible funny anecdotes in the book too. The most memorable one for me is a story about him helping a woman to give birth. As the head comes out the father shouts 'oh my GOD OUR BABY HAS NO FACE'. The mother freaks out, the baby shoots out and she's torn in a whole manner of ways. Kay then lets the father know that most babies are born face down and he was only looking at the back of its head...

The book really exposes what a wonderful thing our NHS is, and why we should do everything we can to save it. I think we all should give this book a read because it personalises the statistics we see about our struggling health service, and really shows how important it is to keep.

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Review of 'The Little Shop of Happy Ever After' by Jenny Colgan

I've been saving this book as the ultimate comfort read for a LONG time. It was given to me by my Auntie a few years ago with a little inscription saying the book made her think of me (honestly one of the loveliest things anyone can do?!), and I've been waiting for a good time to read it since then. Earlier this year I had an intense bout of the flu and this was a perfect sick bed read.

The book follows the story of Nina, a self-proclaimed bookworm and librarian who's soon to be out of a job. As a result of government cuts, her library's being axed, and Nina is forced to face an uncertain future. After saving a whole load of the books from the bin, Nina considers her life-long dream: to open a little book shop.

Nina sets off to Scotland to buy a van that's perfect for selling her books out of. But she has two problems: 1.) she's fallen head over heels for Scotland, and 2.) her home city of Birmingham won't let her sell books from the van there. Nina's forced to make the toughest decision of her life, and moves to Scotland to follow her dreams. But life in the highlands isn't too friendly for a single thirty-something who finds herself an outsider.

I absolutely blitzed through this - it was such a relaxing, easy to get through read. I've since tried to get my hands on all of Jenny Colgan's books because sometimes when life is tough we really need a read that isn't filled with massive peaks and troughs of tension. Having said that, it still was a page turner and there were some twists in the tale, but it read more like Enid Blyton for adults than some kind of nail-biting thriller. 

For a chick flick, the book doesn't focus entirely on romance either, which I love. Nina's friendships are a massive part of the book, overshadowing the romance, which I feel is more true of real life.

I'm giving this four stars - there were a few moments that didn't quite grip me, but I've already bought another of Colgan's books to read when I'm feeling down so it definitely wasn't all bad!

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Review of 'I am Malala' by Malala Yousafzai

I've always known Malala as 'the girl that got shot in the head by the taliban'; this book is all about delving beyond that and looking into Malala: the girl who fights for girls' education. It's so easy to get swept up by little titbit's about a person's character and label them as one thing, and I think it's so important for books, especially autobiographies like this one, to remind us that this is not the case.

This was actually my first read of the year, and something that I've been on the lookout for for a LONG time. I rarely (if ever) buy brand new books and reading this as part of my work book club group gave me the nudge I needed to depop myself a copy.

I am Malala starts off looking into Malala's life up to her attack. She describes what it was like to live in the absolute beauty spot that is Swat Valley (honestly - google pictures of this because wow the media has never shown me this side of Pakistan??). She describes the changes that were made as the Taliban took over this tourist destination, how they were helped by American forces (an absolute eye-opener) and how everything got a lot more dangerous.

Malala's father is a massive source of inspiration in her life. As someone with a lot of teaching experience, he founded his own school in their village. It was a co-ed, so taught both boys and girls. As the Taliban became more powerful and restricted the education rights of girls, this became more and more difficult for him. Malala and him attended conferences together on education where she began to speak out about why girls need to be educated as well as boys. Between this and her decision to not wear a hijab as she was instructed to, Malala became a target.

The book details her attack and recovery. On her way home from school one day Malala was shot in the head and underwent a whole lot of medical procedures to bring her back to the health she feels today. But, in order to receive the treatment, Malala was brought to the UK alone. A terrifying experience, it was still a tough adjustment when her parents came to join her. 

One of the most poignant and important aspects of the book in my opinion is this last part where Malala speaks about what it's like to live in the UK. Her life is in danger if she ever returns to Pakistan and so she doesn't have a choice about being here, and was flown whilst unable to make a decision about moving. She speaks out about how horrible it is to come to a new country that is utterly different to yours, and how heart-breaking she finds the idea of not being able to return to live in Swat Valley.

In the UK there's a whole wave of people that think refugees should be grateful that they're 'allowed' to live here, and that they're somehow less worthy if they miss home or admit that the UK isn't some paradise. I think so much work needs to be done to confront and tear down this narrative, and that Malala does this in a way that is easy to empathise with in her book.

The other thing that is very important to remember when reading this is that Malala was a child when she wrote this. We laud her up as a perfect Nobel peace prize winning symbol of bravery, but she was a child and some of her narrative reads like that. She speaks about how annoying her brother is and sometimes the text can seem a little juvenile. But, I do think it's important that this is the case, as it forces us as readers to remember that Malala is just a girl. An important and very brave girl, but still a girl.

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