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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