Review of 'Crampton Hodnet' by Barbara Pym

 

This book has been sat on my shelves for a few years now and I've definitely been avoiding it. I often struggle with books written around this time (1930s) and I wasn't sure it's something I'd like. In the end, it's not a book I hated, but it just wasn't for me.

Crampton Hodnet is set in a small town outside of Oxford. Its not-so-perfect inhabitants thrive on gossip and judgement. Whilst maintaining the facade of being kind and ideal neighbours, they're all looking for the latest scandal, and become very excited (though of course in their British manner they conceal it as concern) when one crops up.

I struggled to connect with the characters a bit, but I think this is largely in part because I'm not much of a fan of satire. The characters were a reflection of what people think these characters should be like: we had a member of the clergy finding celibacy a little too difficult, a housewife that lets an affair slide for an easy life, a husband with a wandering eye for a younger woman, and a spinster who won't quite admit she's sad to have missed out on marriage. It's meant to be a comedic book, and whilst there were some moments of dry humour, I just found it a bit of a dry read.

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Review of 'House of Earth and Blood' by Sarah J Maas

 

After finishing A Court of Silver Flames, I had a massive Sarah J Maas shaped hole in my reading life, so I had to give House of Earth and Blood a go. As they're both fantasy, I wondered if this would be a slight rehash of ACOTAR, or one of the books in that series, but it did feel distinct. This was definitely a slow burner for me, but by the end I was totally and utterly obsessed.

House of Earth and Blood is about Bryce Quinlan, a half-fae half-human woman. When tragedy strikes her life, she's hired to help solve a crime. Unfortunately for her, she's got to work alongside Hunt Athalar, a man renowned for his rebellion that ended in disaster, and for his skill at killing. With a murder to solve, the pair must attempt to work together to seek the answers and rewards they both so desperately want.

There's a lot of world building in this, especially across the first 100 pages or so, that makes it quite a tough read to get into. But, there is a lot of drama in those pages too so it's not all dry and description filled. I LOVED the characters in this book - there were some truly hateworthy ones, as well as totally loveable ones. Bryce herself is a fearless woman who's not afraid to stick up for herself and she made for a great heroine.

I won't lie, this book ripped my heart out and stomped on it. I pretty much cried for the last 200 pages on and off. I was so wrapped up in the characters and their world that I just didn't want to put the book down at all.  

This is a great read for any Sarah J Maas fans as well as fans of Leigh Bardugo's adult writing, and other fantasy novels.

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Review of 'Little Fires Everywhere' by Celeste Ng

After reading Everything I Never Told You a couple of years ago, and watching the Amazon Prime version of this book, I knew I wanted to finally delve in and read this. Despite having watched the show, I felt like the book version was significantly different enough to make it worth doing both, and it was interesting to see what was changed to make it onto the small screen. I also enjoyed this more than Everything I Never Told You, which I wasn't expecting. 

Little Fires Everywhere is about the suburban Richardson family who are living the American Dream with their four kids, big house and jobs they enjoy. When Mrs Richardson lets out the other house they own to single mum Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl at a reduced rate, she has no idea what disruption they'll cause to her idyllic life. The book starts with the Richardson house going up in flames, and from there we go back in time to see what happened in the lead up to this disaster.

I really enjoyed this book. It touches on important themes including interracial adoption (particularly Chinese adoption in the US), abortion, surrogacy and loss. These were all discussed in sensitive ways, and because of the divide between the Warrens and the Richardsons, the reader is shown arguments on both sides of these topics. 

I'm really glad I read this and gave it 4 stars.

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Review of 'From Twinkle, With Love' by Sandhya Menon

 

I'm a big fan of Sandhya Menon's books - I've loved both When Dimple Met Rishi and There's Something About Sweetie, so I thought I was onto a winner here. As always with Menon's books, the characters in this were vibrant, I got hooked on the plot and fell a little in love with the main male character. 

Twinkle is an aspiring teen filmmaker struggling with high school after her best friend starts hanging out with the popular girls. She's hoping the film she's making will be her path to popularity, and that hanging out with Sahil will give her the opportunity to spend time with his twin Neil, her ultimate crush. But, the film actually forces her to hold up a lens to her own actions, and realise that she's perhaps becoming someone different to who she'd like to be. 

The reason why I struggled with this book was also one of the reasons why it was so good. Menon captures what it's like to be an insecure teen so well, and it felt like holding a mirror up to my uncomfortable truths. I've not related to any teen character like this in a long time, in a way that brought me back exactly to all my big fears, nasty thoughts and distance from who I wanted to be. 

I gave this four stars because there were parts I really struggled with, and I felt like my lack of interest in filmmaking and directors meant a few bits of the book were lost on me. However I got totally wrapped up in the writing and the plot.

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Review of 'A Court of Silver Flames' by Sarah J Maas

I'm going to try to keep this condensed because, let's face it, I could talk for DAYS about this book. I was a bit apprehensive about it following Nesta and Cassian's stories rather than Rhys and Feyre's because I always find when these sort of spin off books happen I lose interest. However this was absolutely not the case. I loved this book so much, and it's now a close second favourite of mine in the series (behind A Court of Mist and Fury of course). I already want to re-read the series, I want another book in it to read asap, and I'm still not quite over the book hangover.

A Court of Silver Flames starts with Nesta's self destructive actions reaching a point where her sisters and the Night Court have to hold an intervention. Ever since she was forced into the Cauldron, and since her father's death, the trauma Nesta's keeping inside has just gotten more and more out of control. Determined to get her sister on track, Feyre insists that Nesta works in the library every day and trains her body too in the hope that the family can be reunited.

This book had the most smut in it out of the whole series, but also the most depth of emotion in a lot of ways. You saw what felt like Nesta's PTSD come out in ways that really I think will help people to understand how it can manifest and what it might feel like. It shows the importance of working through your trauma, and the importance of a support network. I loved the friendship between Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie, and was really shocked to love a book so much where I really disliked the main character for most of it. 

If I delve too much more into it I fear I'll never stop, so I'm going to finish off by saying I think I've now probably read my favourite read of the whole of 2021. 

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