'Talking as Fast as I Can' by Lauren Graham

 

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm no massive Gilmore Girls fan, or read many autobiographies. This book was something I picked up a few years ago and it's been staring at me from my shelves ever since, but I'm glad I read it. Everyone has an interesting life and I enjoyed seeing insights to the backstage of what Hollywood and actor life is really like.

Talking as Fast As I Can is Lauren Graham's autobiography that she released in the same year as the 'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life' series. It tracks her early years from being born in Hawaii, to living in Japan with her father, to her moving towards a career in acting. It takes us through the trials and tribulations of trying to 'make it' as an actress, and how important Gilmore Girls was to Graham. There's a whole chapter at the end dedicated to the show's revival, that gives insights to acting around all the big names in the series and what it was like to bring the show back to life again.

If I'm honest, the final chapter was the bit that I enjoyed least out of the book. I've watched a lot of the original show, but not the revival series. However, for any Gilmore Girls fan I think this would be a must-read because it gives so many titbits of info about filming and the process leading up to it. The book was well written, and I loved hearing all about what Hollywood's like and how hard it is to get into the acting scene. It gave an insight into what it's like to be the real person behind things like audition rejections, the pressure to have a certain body in show business, and gossip columns.

I gave this three out of five stars, and it's reminded me that I do like to read autobiographies.

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Review of 'The Husband's Secret' by Liane Moriarty

 

Liane Moriarty feels like one of those authors that everyone's tried at least once and who has a real cult following. I've wanted to read some of her books for years: a bit of romance and a bit of a mystery is right up my street.

The Husband's Secret is told from three perspectives: Cecelia who finds a secret letter her husband has hidden, Rachel who is still on the hunt for her daughter's killer, and Tess who is reeling from the most shocking news she's ever received. Living in a suburb in Australia, the three are desperately trying to keep their lives together in the face of absolute turmoil. At the heart of the novel is the question of what happened to Rachel's teen daughter all those years ago. She was found strangled in a park, and her spectre haunts the whole novel and whole community as no one knows 'whodunnit'.

Sometimes I struggle with multi-perspective books, but I did enjoy this one. The three women all had distinct voices, and their stories interacted with each other, which is something that always makes me enjoy these types of books more. The book was filled with twists that I absolutely did not see coming and I was hooked. My one issue with the book (and the reason I've given it 4 rather than 5 stars) is that is was filled with fatphobic comments throughout. I found this very disappointing, and it did ruin the story a little for me. I'm hoping the same isn't the case in Moriarty's other books.

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Review of 'The Switch' by Beth O'Leary

 

I read The Flatshare last year and really enjoyed it, so I knew I wanted to read The Switch as soon as I realised Beth O'Leary had brought out another book. Both are the perfect easy-going book to read when everything else feels a little too stressful, and I've now been recommending The Switch to pretty much everyone I know. 

The book is told from two perspectives. One is Leena, a young woman working in London who's not particularly happy with her job or her relationship; the other is Eileen, Leena's grandmother who lives in Yorkshire and is just a bit bored of her life. When the pair decide to swap homes for a couple of months, neither quite knows just how big an effect this is going to have on their lives. 

It's rare that I love both perspectives in a book like this. Usually there's one set of chapters that I'm skimming through to get to my favourite narrator, but with this I loved both parts equally. Eileen is a feisty Yorkshire nan who puts everyone she meets in their place in London, which I LOVED. And Leena really does go on a journey of self discovery with the elderly friends of Eileen. 

This book was exactly what I needed when I was going through a bit of a reading slump to really make me love a book again. I was hooked on the plot, and even though it wasn't an overly dramatic read, or something crammed with twists and turns, I found I was looking forward to picking it up every time I got a chance.

I gave this five stars, and would snap up O'Leary's next book in a heartbeat. I'd recommend this for fans of Cecelia Ahern and Jenny Colgan.

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Review of 'And the Mountains Echoed' by Khaled Hosseini

I read The Kite Runner a couple of years ago now and absolutely loved it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting (I had no idea that the big awful event in it happened), but the book was so moving and beautifully written that I knew I had to read Hosseini's other works. I've still got to read A Thousand Splendid Suns, and I'm excited to do so.

And the Mountains Echoed tells the story of Pari and Abduallah, two young siblings that are separated when their father is forced to sell Pari to a childless couple to help support the family. The book is told almost in a series of short stories, all from the perspective of someone connected in some way to the two families involved in the transaction. The book spans decades and a myriad of countries, moving on to characters more loosely and more closely connected to this story of sibling loss at the heart of it.

The book is hard to speak about in any detail without giving too many spoilers because of the way it is structured. It took me a while to work out what was happening with the different perspectives, but I really loved how everything tied back to the core story. I enjoyed working out how each new character at the forefront of a chapter was connected to Pari and Abdullah's story. This book made me WEEP at the end, and for someone who's never a fan of short stories, or books written in this kind of style, I was shocked I felt so connected to the characters.

I feel like Hosseini is an incredible writer, and gave this book four stars. There were a couple of chapters that I found I lost interest in a little because they were more tenuously linked to the rest of the book, but overall it was a great read. 

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Review of 'Nervous Conditions' by Tsitsi Dangarembga

 

This is the first book published in English by a black Zimbabwean woman and was only published in 1988, which really did shock me. I really didn't know what to expect from the book (it was a Kindle download with a vague synopsis), but I really enjoyed it, and can see why it's so highly acclaimed.

Tambu is desperate to go to school, but can't find a way to do so until her brother passes away and she goes to live with her aunt and uncle in his place. This extended family, including a cousin of hers, have been living in England, and Tambu must try to reconcile the life and traditions she's always known with how this family behaves. Tambu grew up in a rural village, and the book retrospectively tells her story of her teenage and adult years as being something more influenced by white people, particularly missionaries. 

The book touches upon so many key themes: loss, family life, traditional Shona life, postcolonialism, spirituality and missionaries, race and gender. I loved Tambu's character, and felt that seeing everything that happens in the book through a child's eyes made for an interesting perspective. I felt the section at the end where she finally gets what she's thought she wanted, and realised it's not quite what she expected (trying not to give any spoilers here) was especially poignant.

I really enjoyed this, and felt it taught me a lot about the Shona people. 

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Review of 'A Court of Frost and Starlight' by Sarah J Maas

 

This year I've worked my way through the whole of the ACOTAR series and loved it. I'm really hoping the new book coming out in January doesn't disappoint. This was my least favourite book in the series, and I *think* mostly because I'm not a big fan of novellas. It felt like a bit of a stepping stone between the end of the last book (which I felt finished really well), and whatever's in the upcoming one. 

It's nearing Winter Solstice and after finding out everyone buys each other presents, Feyre's determined to impress her new family. At the same time however, they're all struggle in the aftermath of the battle they faced: Feyre's unsure of her place as High Lady, Nesta won't talk to anyone, Rhys is keeping himself as busy as possible and Amren's adjusting to her new life. In the background of the festivities is the army's growing discontent that Cassian's trying to keep under control.

I still enjoyed this one - the writing was beautiful as always, but I felt with it being quite a short book that there wasn't *that* much plot. It felt like Maas brought out a Christmas special, but one that still had some really great elements. I loved the descriptions of some of the gifts, and having the chapters from a whole range of different perspectives was very interesting.

I gave this four stars as it's a nice addition to the series, but I don't think it's as powerful as the other books. 

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Review of 'Go Set a Watchman' by Harper Lee

 

This is hands down the most disappointing book I've read all year, or in fact for quite some time. I read it almost back to back with To Kill A Mockingbird, and if you're thinking of doing the same I would really recommend not, because it completely retrospectively ruined it for me.

Go Set a Watchman takes place when Jean Louise is grown up. We learn that Jem has died (not a spoiler, this is shown right at the start) and that she's going back to her home town to see her dad and childhood friend. She's struggling to unite her modern life in New York with her understanding of what it's like to live in a small town again, and comes across challenges she never anticipated.

There are so many things that disappointed me about this book, and you can see why Harper Lee never wanted it published. For starters, Jem's death seemed like a bit of an easy write out? It was just announced and then Jean Louise never really mentioned that she missed him. Her love interest too was meant to be one of her best childhood friends and despite racking my brains over and over again I just couldn't remember him ever being mentioned in To Kill a Mockingbird. And then we have her relationship with her dad. The whole book basically works off the premise that Jean Louise finds out that Atticus isn't the good man she always thought he was, and this is really where I felt the original book was ruined. 

I have this one star and really wouldn't recommend reading it, especially if you're a Harper Lee fan.

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Review of 'Clap When You Land' by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

I've heard so much about how much of a tear-jerker/heart destroying book this is over the last year or so, and knew I had to read it. Whilst the book didn't *actually* make me cry (I was feeling particularly hard hearted at the time), I did enjoy it and can definitely see why it came with this reputation. The use of a verse narrative made it a quick read that was easy to dip in and out of.

Clap When You Land is told from two perspectives: Camino lives with her aunt in the Dominican Republic, and Yahaira lives with her Mum and Dad in New York City. Both are devastated when they find out their father was killed on a flight to the Dominican Republic and shocked when they find out they have a half sister in another country. With their world's turned upside down, Camino and Yahaira are faced with the tough decision of whether to learn more about their father's second life in exchange for getting to know a sister they never thought they had.

I always have a favourite when a book is told by more than one narrator and in this I felt much more connected to Camino. I enjoyed learning about Yahaira's story and life, but just not quite as much. The book obviously focused on loss, but it also focused on family, growing up and had LGBT elements. I felt like the two girls learning more about themselves and each other through the loss of their father was very poignant and I loved seeing them both really start to come into their own.

I would recommend this if you enjoyed the writing style of Girl, Woman, Other, or for fans of Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard, as both books are YA but don't focus on girlfriend/boyfriend relationships at their core. 

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Review of 'My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece' by Annabel Lee

 

This book has been sat on my shelf for YEARS waiting to be read. It's something that I just didn't feel that drawn to picking up and thought it would be a big tear jerker because the premise is that it's told from the perspective of someone whose sister has died. 

10-year-old Jamie's older sister was killed five years ago in a terror attack. He still hasn't cried. His whole life was turned upside down when Rose died: his parents aren't living together anymore, he doesn't know when he'll next see his mum, he's having to go to a new school AND everything anyone does is always about Rose. He struggles to understand why his sister Jasmine, Rose's twin, can't see things from his perspective. 

At his new school, Jamie makes friends with a Muslim girl and knows his dad would be angry if he knew: you see, his dad spouts hate about Muslims, blaming all of them for the attack that killed his daughter, even on the rare occasions he is sober. Jamie's torn, and is suddenly faced with understanding that perhaps not everything he thought was true actually is.

I found this a bit of a tough read, not really because of the loss of a sister, but because of the Islamophobia throughout. Although it's used to show how Islamophobic the parents are, it's something that was quite extreme in the book, and presented really as the only way the dad could understand his daughter's death. It kicks off in a shocking way, and if nothing else the book highlights how a parent's prejudice can easily be passed on to a child. There are a whole load of tough topics in this: the obvious ones are grief and loss, but it also looks into alcoholism, eating disorders and family break ups, all from the perspective of a child. I definitely think this was more of a teen book than YA. There were parts of it I did enjoy, but I struggled to connect with the characters, which is why I gave it three stars. 

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Review of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

 

I first read this when I was a teen and looking to start embarking on reading classics. Having now re-read it ten years later there was SO much that went over my head in the first read, or that I didn't appreciate properly. I was so wrapped up in Jem and Scout's obsession with Boo Radley that all I really remember of the trial the first time around was that I didn't understand all the legal jargon, it was distracting time away from the story I wanted to know more about and I definitely didn't pick up on all the suggestions that her father was the culprit.

To Kill a Mockingbird  is set in a quiet town in the South of the US and revolves around the Finch family. Atticus Finch, a lawyer, lives with his two children Jem and Scout, who are motherless after she passed away. Scout's real name is Jean Louise, but her love for adventuring and ability to be a bit rough around the edges makes Scout a much more appropriate name. The kids are obsessed with Boo Radley: a man whose house they walk past to get to and from school every day, but whom they've never laid eyes on. 

Running parallel to this story is Atticus': he's been asked to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a white teenage girl. Atticus knows from the start that, despite Tom's innocence, Atticus' own skill as a defence attorney and the evidence pointing to the contrary, Tom will likely still get called guilty by the jury.  

The story is all about a loss of innocence in growing up, as well as racism, class, family, friendship and mental health. There's going to be more spoilers in this next bit! Scout and Jem go to the trial and are faced with understanding not only some of the details of the case, but that people's prejudice can ruin lives. They've been brought up to teach everyone with love, and bit by bit as the trial and events around it go on, they have their eyes opened to the fact that the world isn't what they thought it was. 

I had completely forgotten what the trial was about from my first read of the book and I was totally hooked by this. This part of the story is so well written and I felt like Jem and Scout: unable to look away, despite being told that things wouldn't be resolved the way I wanted them to. The book was deeply sad, and I felt dealt well with such a sensitive subject, especially considering that it was written in the 60s.

I gave this 4 stars.

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Review of 'Always and Forever, Lara Jean' by Jenny Han

 

Ah, the final instalment in the TATBILB series. This was a great ending to the trilogy, and I'm hoping the author never gets pressured into adding a little something extra to it because this was really rounded off well. I felt like this was the book where Lara Jean developed the most as a person and we left her ready to embark upon adulthood.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean follows LJ through her last year of high school. She's got a class trip to New York on the cards, prom, college applications and her relationship with Peter's getting more serious. Lara Jean pins her hopes on one college in particular and has her whole future mapped out, but when things don't *quite* go to plan, LJ's forced to reconsider everything.

I felt a bit more like we got to understand more of Lara Jean in this book. There was a bigger focus on what was happening with her family in this one, and I loved that aspect. However a lot of it I struggled with. LJ put SUCH a focus on making sure her and Peter's relationship was her number one priority in terms of her decisions about college and no one really tells her to make sure she's making the best decisions for herself outside of the relationship. Maybe I've turned into a bitter old crone who cries 'don't throw your education away for a high school relationship', but I'm glad Lara did take *some* other factors into consideration too. 

I felt like both Lara Jean and Peter showed their immaturity in this one and I really struggled to stay on board with their relationship. Although couple fight and misunderstand each other, it doesn't always make you wonder what there *is* in the relationship and ask where the love/passion is. I just felt like I couldn't believe in their relationship, and so I struggled with it.

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Review of 'The Hungry Tide' by Amitav Ghosh

 

The Hungry Tide is a book I picked up on a bit of a whim, and as it borders on being literary fiction (something I very rarely enjoy), I wasn't sure how much I'd like it. Although it definitely was a bit out of my comfort zone, I really did enjoy this one. I felt completely ensconced in the nature side of the book and it did make me cry - a sure sign I liked a book. I mean, if I cry it means I've connected to the characters and the storyline, plus we all need a good book to make us a little teary every now and then, right?

The Hungry Tide follows Piyali's journey to find the very specific type of dolphin she's studying as part of her job as a marine biologist. She's heard rumours that the dolphins at least used to live in the Sundarban islands in the Bay of Bengal and has travelled there to learn more about them, and hopefully find some. There she meets an illiterate fisherman named Fokir, whose intelligence lies in his knowledge of the waters. The book tells her story, Fokir's story and the story of a translator who helps them communicate.

The book touches on themes of class, education, family, Indian culture, folklore, animal studies (including tigers as well as dolphins), heritage and language. Amitav Ghosh writes scenery beautifully, and it really helped to make the story more vivid against the backdrop of the mangroves, islands and water. The plot was gripping and I felt myself drawn more and more to see what was happening with the dolphins, and I especially enjoyed the folklore stories interwoven into the main action. 

Without trying to drop any spoilers, the story did get very dramatic, and I was tearing through the pages to see what happened before my heart got crushed a little. This was a beautiful story, and I learnt a lot both about the geography and history in the Sundarbans as well as about the nature in the area.

I would recommend this for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and The God of Small Things.

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Review of 'P.S. I Still Love You' by Jenny Han

 

I really wanted to read this before I let myself watch the film after enjoying To All The Boys I've Loved Before so much. I have very mixed feelings about this second in the trilogy: some parts I enjoyed way more, but I'm just putting it out there that I was Team John the whole way through ...

P.S. I Still Love You starts off with Lara Jean and Peter now an *actual* couple that aren't just pretending. LJ can hardly believe she's managed to bag Peter Kavinsky. However, things aren't going as smoothly as she'd like: despite making a pact to not hurt each other, Peter's spending more time with his ex Gen, and LJ has become pen pals with an old crush and hasn't quite mentioned she's in a relationship now. Will their fledgling relationship survive this?

My main gripe with this book is that the love story I wanted to triumph out of the triangle LJ found herself in lost. I really felt as though Lara Jean and Peter both develop a lot in finding themselves and finding how they want to be in a relationship which I felt was really great. However, I LOVED John Ambrose McLaren's character, and even though he was just a foil to their relationship, I thought he was much better for LJ than Peter was. I mean, he turned up in a SUIT to the elderly resident party to impress her. 

I would recommend this if you enjoyed TATBILB - I gave it three stars because I wasn't feeling the love (would a teenage girl really forgive a guy for hanging out with his ex after she posted a video of them being intimate? Would a teenage guy withstand the blow to his ego of a girl openly flirting with someone else in front of him? I just struggled to believe it, and to feel their connection). However, I still loved the Covey sisters' relationship in this one, and felt that was an important part of the book.

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Review of 'A Court of Wings and Ruin' by Sarah J Maas

 

This series is my favourite I've read in a LONG time, and this third book in it was another great one. It really felt like a lot of the plot strands finally came together, and we got to know so much more about characters I've been intrigued by.

We start with Feyre at Tamlin's, trying to plot against him in secret whilst her family is in tatters back in the Night Court. She's determined to make her way back to Rhys and her sisters so that they can hatch a plan to not only enact revenge against Tamlin but more importantly to use her new-found powers against the evil spreading across the realm. The courts are threatened by war: King Hybern's on a mission to become even more powerful and the seven High Lords need to unite to have a chance at winning against him. 

I really enjoyed the drama of this one. I'm trying not to give any spoilers away for this book, but I loved the battle scenes (honestly if they made this into a TV show with a big budget I really think it could be more popular than Game of Thrones). I'm always a fan of a good back story, and the snippets that built up throughout this about Cassian, Amren, Azriel and Mor's earlier lives made them much more 3D characters, and each felt like they came into the forefront of the narrative at different points. 

The last fifty pages or so of this had me WEEPING and then happy and then crying all over again - no one puts my feelings through the ringer like Sarah J Maas does and everything reached a complete pitch towards the end of this book. As always, everything was written so beautifully and the world building was something I totally adored.

This was a 5 star read for me, and it's made me so excited for the upcoming book in the series.

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Review of 'Cinderella is Dead' by Kalynn Bayron

 

I can think of basically no books that had LGBT representation in them that I read as a teen, and especially not any with a female protagonist in. I'm so glad that's changing now and I get to read more diverse books as an adult, so I was really excited to get stuck into Cinderella is Dead. 

Sophia lives in Cinderella's town 200 years on from her death. Every year, all eligible teenage girls must attend a ball presided over by the town's prince, where a man will hopefully pick her as his bride. It's supposed to be a time of great excitement for the girls, and a night on which the fairy godmother turns up to help them (although everyone's parents make sure each girl has a 'backup' outfit for when this inevitably does not happen). 

The problem is that Sophia doesn't want a suitable bachelor to choose her as his wife, or any man. Sophia has a girlfriend: her friend Erin and her are being forced apart by the ball and the pressure from both their families to partake in it. Sophia's horrified by the suggestion that the girls that don't get chosen simply 'disappear', and when things don't go to plan at the ball she's determined to find out what secrets the castle, and the Prince, are keeping. 

I loved the plot of this - I'm a big fan of retellings of fairy tales and fables, and I loved that not only did this have a POC main character, but that she was also comfortable with her own sexuality. Often I find with LGBT rep in books that there's just one character who is openly gay/lesbian etc, and they might meet one other person later in the book who is too. In this book however, a whole swathe of main characters were part of the LGBT community, which was really great.

The book definitely could have done with a bit more editing and tightening up of the plot I think, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. There was a whole section in the middle that ended up being relevant to the plot, but at the time felt like a bit of a filler side plot, and I sort of got lost in exactly where the book was headed. I am however VERY excited to see what the author brings out next, as this was her debut novel. 

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Review of 'The Starless Sea' by Erin Morgenstern

 

Despite having had The Night Circus sat on my shelf for a couple of years (I'm 100% intimidated by it), this is the first Erin Morgenstern book I've read. 2020 is my year of reading fantasy, but this is one of the few high fantasy books I've gone for. It was completely out of my comfort zone, but something I'm really glad I read.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins was living a normal life until he came across a book in his local library that has a short story about his own life and how he came across a painted door as a kid in it. Determined to discover how his life has ended up in a book, Zachary ends up on a total adventure into a world he never imagines. He's on a voyage to find the starless sea, and his life and whole understanding of what life is changes as he moves deeper into this unknown world.

This felt in part like a story about stories: not only are the chapters interspersed by parts of short stories included in the book as fairytales/fables in Zachary's world, but everything in the book is spurred on by stories. This is one of the few high fantasy novels I've read and it was something that I only felt I started to understand right in the last quarter of the book or so. The imagery was very vivid, but I felt a little like I was clutching at straws the whole way through. It made for a beautiful read, although definitely one that I feel like I'd need to read another couple of times to really properly understand. 

My one main gripe with it is that I wasn't really feeling the love story. It felt very forced, and almost as though it was an afterthought that was written into the book later as a way to add another dimension to the story and make things a little more dramatic. I would have loved to see the pair really get to know each other? Or have a bit more chemistry? 

I gave this four stars because I really enjoyed all the stories and how they worked together, but there were moments I felt a little lost. 

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Review of 'Half a World Away' by Mike Gayle

 

Everyone who I've seen reading this has said it make them bawl, and I (someone who cries at literally everything) somehow still thought this wouldn't make me cry? This is one of the books that's lasted with me the longest this year because the characters were so vivid and touching. I honestly wept for about the last quarter of the book, reading through my tears and I'm now torn between really wanting to read another Mike Gayle book and being afraid for how hard it will stomp on my heart. 

Kerry's a single mum trying to give her won the best life. She grew up in care and is desperate to make her son's childhood a better one than hers. Noah is a high-flying lawyer whose inability to open up has his marriage on the rocks. Noah has no idea he had an older sister, until he receives a letter from her. Kerry wants to get in touch, and finally get to know her younger brother again: separated in care, he was adopted whilst she bounced around foster homes until adulthood. However, Kerry's reason for contacting him is a little more complex than just wanting to get to know him as an adult. You see, Kerry's got a secret that will change both their lives forever.

This next part is going to have a whole bunch of spoilers, so if you haven't read the book yet and want to, this is your warning!

Review of 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before' by Jenny Han

 

Normally I'm always a 'read the book before you watch the film' advocate, but with this one I did it the other way around. I adored the film (a cute YA watch), and wanted to read the trilogy before seeing the second. I was reading this over summer in a bit of a slump after reading a few books I really didn't enjoy and it was the perfect fix to get me out of it.

Lara Jean writes a letter to every boy she loves when she falls out of love with him as a way to say goodbye. She never sends the letters, but keeps them in an old hatbox of her mother's. When one of the boys tells her he got her letter, Lara Jean realises they all must have been sent out somehow. Desperate to not let anyone know that she used to have a major crush on her sister's boyfriend (especially not her sister) who she wrote one of the letters to, she hatches a fake dating plan with one of the other boys.

This was a very dramatic love triangle-y romance that I totally devoured. I loved Lara Jean's character in this - she's sensitive, a little artsy and is always baking. The sister relationships between LJ and her older sister Margot as well as little sister Kitty were fab, and I felt like it was important that they occupied such a large space in the novel. The dynamic between them and as well more largely as a family missing a mother added a layer of depth outside the romance that the book really needed. 

I would recommend this if you enjoy YA romance books, especially Sarah Dessen's and Nicola Yoon's books.

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Review of 'The Hidden Beach' by Karen Swan

 

Karen Swan's The Christmas Lights was my favourite festive book I read in 2019, so I was excited to see what her summery reads are like. I totally expected a straight up holiday romance style book, so was a little surprised by the thriller aspect - I love a good thriller, so it didn't go amiss with me, but I could see how the title and cover might draw romance readers in for a book that would ultimately not be what they wanted.

Bell is working as a nanny for the Von Greyerz when Hanna, the mother, receives a call telling her that her husband has woken up from his coma. Bell always assumed the parents of the family were married, and Hanna is now stuck with a difficult choice of whether to stay in Stockholm with her family, or visit her now-awake husband. Bell's called on to go way above and beyond what should be expected of her role, and ends up on a set of small islands for the summer. Meeting Hanna's ex is different to how she expected, and no one is prepared for how much this summer will change their lives.

I found the book a little jarring if I'm honest. I felt like it was trying to be a cute romance novel, but at the same time a dark gripping thriller and the two styles, which were separated a little by current events vs flashbacks, clashed. I really struggled to like Hanna as a character - she was so obsessed with the family she nannied that she didn't have her own life and seemed quite happy with things being that way. I felt like the ending and story just weren't believable enough for me. I did however get caught up in wanting to know exactly what was happening in the thriller parts and I enjoyed Bell's mystery love interest at first.

I gave this three stars because I did find myself looking forward to reading the book to find out what was happening, but the romance just didn't do it for me.

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Review of 'Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas' by Adam Kay

 

I am *that* person who read a Christmassy book over Summer because sometimes you just need an extra bit of festivity inserted into your life, right? I LOVED This is Going to Hurt, but if I'm brutally honest the thing that made me so slow to read this second book was that it was the same price as a full novel for a TINY book. I managed to borrow this from a friend, which I'm really glad about because otherwise I just don't think I could have justified the price to read it.

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is a memoir in the same style as This is Going to Hurt, with stories by Adam Kay about his time working as a junior doctor for the NHS in the UK. It shares the funny and the brutally sad tales he remembers, with these ones all taking place between Christmas and New Year over the years he worked as a doctor.

The book is really great at showing how tough life working for the NHS can be over Christmas, particularly as Kay spent every single Christmas Day working. There are some really beautiful moments he depicts involving births, but his story about people trying to get their elderly relatives admitted to hospital so they don't have to spend the day together really broke my heart a bit.

If you enjoyed This is Going to Hurt, or like medical memoirs then I would recommend this. It was a quick read that helped me get out of a slump, and put a smile on my face as well as making me cry.

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Review of 'A Court of Mist and Fury'

I don't even know where to start with this. It's hands down the best book I've read all year, and I'm fully obsessed with Sarah J Maas' writing now and understand why she has such a cult following. This was such an incredible read that as I was getting through it I felt almost upset because I thought I'd never ever read a book as good as this ever again. I am already thinking of re-reading the series despite still having the fourth book to go, and I'm desperate for a really great TV series of the book series, with a Game of Thrones-esque budget to do it justice and make it perfect.

A Court of  Wings and Ruin follows on from the end of A Court of Thorns and Roses, where Feyre has agreed a bargain with Rhysand, Lord of the Night Court, to spend one week of every month with him as part of a bargain in which he saved her life. She goes back to the Spring court with Tamlin and dreads the idea of this monthly excursion, but for a while Rhysand doesn't act on it. She feels more and more trapped in her life with Tamlin: after defeating Amarantha and the changes that have happened to her, Feyre feels like she finally deserves a bit more independence, but instead she's expected more to sit and look pretty. On their wedding day, she starts to have some doubts, and as she walks down the aisle, Rhys swoops in and demands his promised week. 

Feyre dreads spending the week at the Night Court, and is petrified of Rhysand and his close courtiers. She's determined to spend all her time in her room and interact with him as little as possible, but gradually she begins to almost not want to go home, back to being constrained by Tamlin and lied to by the people closest to her. 

I'm trying not to give *too* much away with this review, but it's pretty hard. Because it's such a long book (over 600 pages), a LOT happens, and we get into the action straightaway. Having now read the third book in the series, and with just the very short fourth to go, I'm pretty sure this is going to remain my favourite of them. The world building was incredible - the descriptions of the Night Court made it sound like the most beautiful place I could imagine, and I thought things couldn't improve after the Spring Court. We also get glimpses of another court as the book goes on, and it's introduced in an equally spell-binding way.

There's so much character progression in this - Feyre really starts to come into her own, moving away from the girl she used to be who always had to depend on others, and really starts to learn what she wants. I also loved seeing a new perspective on both Rhys and Tamlin, and the book was so great at switching up what you thought was the case that I really want to go back and read ACOTAR now I know what I know.

A special mention also has to go to the smut in this book because wow no one does sexual tension like Maas do they? I mean, I am in LOVE. I'd heard so many things about the paint scene, and now I totally understand why people talk about it, but there were so many scenes in the book where the tension was so insane that I was *almost* disappointed when it was released. 

I have been recommending this to anyone who will listen, but mostly fantasy fans need to read this series if you haven't already, especially if you enjoy YA fantasy. 

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Review of 'Liar' by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

 

I really had high hopes for this novel. The cover is beautiful (and I'm always a big believer in judging a book by its cover), the plot sounded really intriguing and the praise for it seemed good, but when it came down to it I really struggled to enjoy this at all.

Liar is largely about a teen girl called Nofar who, desperate for attention as a lonely teenage girl, lets people believe that a washed up celeb sexually assaulted her. She knows he's innocent, but when people see her crying in an alleyway because he's been rude to her, she does not correct their assumptions. From here the lie spirals - the man's life is being ruined, but can she bite the bullet and admit that she wasn't entirely honest, risking losing all the new-found respect she's received? 

Later in the book we meet Raymonde, an elderly lady who similarly tells a small lie and watches it snowball: she is mistaken for a deceased friend, and winds up giving tours of concentration camps, despite not being a survivor of one unlike her friend. Will either of the pair battle out their consciences?

As I said, I really loved the premise for this, and thought the book could be a really interesting one about how a small lie can really grow, fold in other lies and become insurmountable. However, I really struggled to suspend my belief whilst reading this. I just don't think that, unfortunately, in our world a man would be jailed and have his life turned upside down based solely on the word of a teenage girl with absolutely no evidence for the sexual assault or attempted assault. The police imply that Nofar has been a victim of attempted assault and she just agrees, rather than really telling them what happened, and then there's not any proper investigation after that. 

I found both Nofar and Raymonde really difficult characters to get on board with, but it's no flaw for a character to be unlikeable. I just find it hard to enjoy books where I can't get on board with the main characters at all. In Nofar's case the guy was really nasty, but didn't deserve his entire life ruining, but with Raymonde there was no 'bad guy' on the other end of the lie, unless you count the people attending the talk who couldn't recognise this woman was not really a holocaust survivor.

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