Review of 'The Hunting Party' by Lucy Foley

Crime thrillers are one of my go-to comfort books. They always have a clear beginning, middle and end (as long as they're written well), and almost all of the time everything is wrapped up neatly at the end. They're always a great way for me to get back into reading if I'm ever having a bit of a slump. I read this book back in December (I promise, I *really* am trying to catch up on reviews), and it was a perfect Wintery read for cold evenings. 

The Hunting Party is a thriller set in the Scottish Highlands around the New Year. A group of old school friends are meeting up to see in midnight together, but everything goes very wrong. The book is written in two timelines: 'now', which is once someone has been murdered, and 'then', which is the days leading up to it.

Told from the perspectives of the different friends, as the book progresses you don't know who has been killed, or who did it. There's the moody ex-con groundskeeper, the sleep-deprived new parents, the rich city boy, the couple that are oh-so in love, and all the other members of the group that suspicion lies upon.

This was one of the best thrillers I read last year. I had no idea who had even been killed until getting an inkling a few pages before, let alone who had done it. This dual mystery is one that I can't remember reading in another book, or at least can't remember it having been done this well. The book was incredibly atmospheric - it really felt like I was up in the freezing cold highlands away from civilisation and I would recommend reading it in winter. I was totally gripped and loved finding out more about each character from the viewpoints of other characters in the book. It felt almost like a modern day book version of Cluedo!

I gave this five stars and would recommend this for fans of Shari Lapena's books.

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Review of 'So Lucky' by Dawn O'Porter

Every so often I come across a book that's truly refreshing, and this is one of them. I've not read The Cows, though I've heard really great things, so I came into this without any awareness of Dawn O'Porter's writing style, or any expectation really. 

So Lucky was a full on breath of fresh air from the perspective of three women. Beth is a new mum whose husband doesn't seem to have any lust for her anymore. Lauren's living the perfect instagram life, but things aren't so happy behind the captions. Ruby's struggling to connect with her daughter because of body image problems, and a history of disconnection with her own mother. The three have lives that on the surface are great: Beth's got a beautiful baby, Lauren's bringing in wads of cash with her instagram feed, and Ruby's got the career of her dreams. However, behind all of these facades, the women aren't as lucky as things appear.

The book really delves into the life of women in the 21st century and covers a whole lot of taboo subjects for us. At the centre of the novel are these women's bodies, and it really reflects that this is true for all of us - we need our bodies, and we've been taught to obsess over them without really being taught to understand or love them. The book talks about female sexual desire, discharge, breastfeeding, masturbation, body hair, post partum life and bodies, and mental health issues. 

It was really a great one for me in reminding you that all women feel these things and have issues that we're made to feel ashamed of, but maybe if we were more honest with one another this wouldn't be so distanced. I thoroughly enjoyed this and gave it 5 stars.

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Review of 'Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances' by Neil Gaiman

I have a confession to make: I am now someone who watches things and then goes about reading the book. Pretty monstrous, I know. I watched the TV series of Good Omens last year and absolutely adored it (I need a series 2 asap), and then pretty much immediately picked this off my shelf to read. I'm not the biggest fan of short stories so at some point I'm hoping to get my hands on a full length novel of his (what would you recommend??), but I enjoyed this nonetheless.

This is a collection of creepy, supernatural short stories interspersed with equally creepy poems. From retellings of fairy tales made scary to tales exposing our deepest fears, this really was a stellar volume of short stories. The poems were well thought out, and a very welcome break from stories that could become a little tiring - I find with short story books that if each story is written in a similar way it becomes quite a drag.

One of my favourite stories was 'A Calendar of Tales', which had a story for each month of the year based around 12 tweets that Gaiman had been sent. It really was a clever read full of fantasy and really vivid stories. The only thing I can compare it to is it being like a more grown up version of the Goosebumps books I read as a kid.  Which, as a sidenote, were one of the most memorable and terrifying things I read, and I'd love to see if they lived up to my memory of them!

This is the best short story collection I've ever read before, and really makes me want to read his other books. I gave this 4 stars.

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Review of 'The Girl in the Ice' by Robert Bryndza

As hard as I try to stray into more high brow fiction, or push myself out of my comfort zone I always come back over and over again to thrillers. They're quick reads, easy to get through and something that really help to motivate me to read when I'm in a little bit of a rut because I just NEED to know what happens.

Erika Foster is *pinches* this close to being kicked off the force due to her trauma around her partner's death and the way it has affected her work (nice, huh?). Solving the murder of the rich socialite girl who was pushed into a lake in Erika's area could be the key to getting everything back on track. However, when Erika discovers links between the victim and other attacks on prostitutes nearby everything turns nasty. The victim's rich, powerful family are determined to use their influence to keep the media posting positive things about their daughter and to avoid scrutiny against them that they feel ought to be placed elsewhere. 

As Erika gets closer to discovering the killer, the killer is getting closer to making her one of his next victims. 

This was a really intense once you got a good chunk of the way into the book as it had a bit of a slow start. However, once the pace picked up I did really enjoy it. My main gripe was that although I didn't guess exactly who the killer was, it wasn't a hard reach. I would have much rather the story linked up more with her past as the book hinted at throughout. There was a bit of the standard 'female detective underestimated and gaslit by her male colleagues gets more determined than ever to sort out her case' trope running the whole way through, but to be honest it's not my least favourite crime thriller trope to read.

If you enjoyed watching The Capture last year then I think you'd really enjoy this book! I gave this 4 stars.

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Review of 'Anatomy of A Scandal' by Sarah Vaughan

I'm now on day 13 of self-isolation in this pandemic (although writing this on 28th March and I'm not sure when I'll be posting) and good lord has the boredom hit. I'm so SO behind on these reviews, and despite my best efforts to blast through as many as possible so far this year, I'm not *actually* sure if I've made any headway on catching up as I've had extra time to do more reading. Anyway, let's hope that during this lockdown I finally manage to get somewhere with catching up - maybe even onto my 2020 reads? Who knows. 

Sophie and James have everything going well for them on the surface: a nice home, beautiful kid, and James has a great job in politics. That is, until he's accused on sexual assault. Sophie knows her husband would never do something like that, and is determined to stand by him throughout his upcoming trial. Kate, the prosecution lawyer for the case on the other hand, is utterly convinced he did it. Set against the backdrop of James and Sophie's privileged time at Oxford, the book is told part by Sophie and part by Kate. Perhaps the two women aren't so different after all.

This book comes with a massive trigger warning for sexual assault and rape. In covering the court case, the book goes over the incident time and time again from different angles using different evidence, as they would in a real court case. It was likely a very accurate insight into what this kind of trial is like, and the repetitive and exhaustive nature of the questioning of the woman really came through. 

Interestingly, the book comes with a disclaimer from the author that James and his Etonian/Oxford cronies are not supposed to be a reflection of any particular UK top level politicians. However, we all know that a large amount of the ones we have and have had in government in recent years have belonged to the same elite clubs as these characters did at university, and bear the same level of privilege.

I've given this four stars - it was an interesting read and I enjoyed it, but it felt like the plot fell a little flat at points for me.

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Review of 'The Rest of the Story' by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen was my favourite author as a teen, and I read this last year before *that* twitter scandal emerged and banged on for WEEKS about how much I loved her as a writer/this book. Anyhow, it was a nice return to a comforting read, which is kind of what I feel we all need at the moment. 

Emma Saylor lives with her dad as a family of two after her mother's death. She's never met her mother's family until this summer: with her dad and grandma unavailable, she needs somewhere to stay. It's only when Emma arrives at North Lake that she discovers she stayed there as a child. Her mother's family came from the working class side of the lake, residents all year around working at the big resort to keep tourists happy, whilst her dad lived around the other side of the lake (and other side of the wealth gap).

Over the summer, Emma learns not only more about her mother than she ever expected, but more about herself. She's reunited with Roo, a boy who remembers her as his best friend when she stayed at North Lake as a child. He holds the key to the mystery that changed the course of her mother's life, and Emma's not sure she wants all the answers.

I've been a fan of all of the books Sarah Dessen has written - there's never just the boy meets girl element to the plot, but always something a little deeper. Her books remind me a little bit of a sort of Jacqueline Wilson for young adults. I loved this coming-of-age, trying to navigate your identity story. Emma doesn't live in a vacuum, and as with most teens there's a LOT of different pressures on her from different people to be a certain type of person, and the book follows this as well as Emma's attempts to really work out who she'd like to be.

I'd recommend this if you're a fan of romance or YA books, especially for a slightly comforting read in these anxiety-ridden times!

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Review of 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes' by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is one of those characters that has captured the English imagination for over a century in a way few others have, lining the walls of popular culture alongside the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein and Oliver Twist (all similarly eponymous characters).

I read my first Sherlock Holmes book in 2018, and if I'm being honest, I didn't expect to enjoy it. But, I loved it. Conan Doyle's books make for a comforting read, something you can curl up under a blanket with and not have to invest masses of time and energy into. This was the perfect read for a bit of a slump I was having where I just needed a little soul-soothing.

As with all the Sherlock Holmes books, this is comprised of a number of short stories all told by his best friend/assistant Dr Watson. Holmes is a man clearly admired both by the police and his friend, but always keeps his cards very close to his chest. Thus, the reader is forced to guess 'whodunnit' along with Watson as Holmes keeps him in the dark most often right up to the great reveal. 

This book also has the first story in it that I've encountered with Moriarty, and if you're a fan of the TV show, he's almost just as diabolical in this. It's the first time Sherlock is truly tested, and through Watson's eyes we see the battles with Moriarty turn into an all-encompassing obsessive disaster for Holmes.

I loved reading this. If you enjoy things like Agatha Christie's novels, or just want a crime book without *too* much drama, this is a great read.

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Review of 'A Storm of Swords Part 1: Steel and Snow' by George R R Martin

Last year was the year I really tried to get fully into the Game of Thrones series and honestly I'm pretty proud of having made my way through three of the volumes (two of the books - A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords) because these things are HEFTY. A Storm of Swords is split into two because together they'd come to over 1200 pages. This first book, although it has a fair amount of action in it, really sets up a lot of the big scenes for part two.

The book is told from the point of view of ten different narrators, switching between them as the story develops. We start off just before the Battle of Blackwater (which is where the previous book in the series finishes off). Tensions are increasing: Jamie Lannister is being held captive by Catelyn Stark and the Tullys, King's Landing is trying to rebuild itself in the midst of fractions in the Lannister family, the Red Lady has an ever-increasing hold over Stannis Baratheon, and Jon Snow is becoming truly a member of the Wildlings. 

As the book develops, Catelyn sets Jaime free in the hope that it will help her see her children again, whilst things take a turn for the worse for the Starks when Robb reneges on a marriage alliance to a supporting faction and marries for love instead. Arya's recognised for being a Stark and loses her anonymity as a wild 'boy', instead gaining a hefty target on her back worth a lot of gold. Over the sea, Daenerys is building her army and meets the Unsullied.

This is such a massive tome that it's really hard to summarise quickly without either giving everything away or ranting on forever. However, just writing this post has made me remember just how much I loved reading the series - maybe 2020 will be the year I finally complete it? The book really delves into the heart the stories of some of my favourite characters: we see Tyrion recover from the battle of Blackwater and how this changes him, and some of the scenes between Daenerys and the owners of the Unsullied are incredible.

This is for sure a 5 star read for me. If you're a fan of high fantasy, or want to push the boat out with some big books this year, I'd really recommend this. 

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Review of 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' by Stuart Turton

I spent a whole lot of time on twitter last year thinking that this book and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo were just one book and everyone was raving about the same thing. Turns out a lot of people loved both of them so Evelyn Hugo is going on my TBR for 2020.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hugo has been one of the hardest books I've read this year to get my head around. In essence, the unnamed main character wakes up each morning in a different person's body, tasked with finding out who killed Evelyn Hardcastle at a party at her parents' estate. He will replay each day over and over again until he finds out who killed her. Each host has a different personality, which the narrator assumes a little of when he's in their body.

The whole book was so intricate and so well done - you were not only trying to work out who killed Evelyn, and how, but also what exactly was going on in this weird purgatory. There's always someone chasing the narrator down to try and kill him, a woman called Anna who seems to be helping him (but can't be trusted) and a person wearing a plague doctor mask who seems to be at the helm of the mystery. 

It was a pretty convoluted read, and definitely one that you need to pay all your attention to rather than dipping in and out of, but it was one of my favourite things I read all year; when all the plot strands came together it was really masterful.

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Review of 'Thus Bad Begins' by Javier Marias

It feels like forever since I've sat down to write a book review, and it seems that despite promising myself I'd use December to catch up on the massively mounting pile of reviews I haven't written, *checks notes* this is the first one I've actually done this month. So it's clearly going well. 

Thus Bad Begins was a bit of a weird one to try and place, in my opinion. Reading it, I imagined it was written in the mid-twentieth century, or earlier, but it was actually published in 2014. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just had a much more classic vibe, so I was shocked when I realised how recently the book was written. 

Set in the 1980s, the main character Juan de Vere is the assistant of a prominent film director, Eduardo Muriel. He lives in Muriel's house and observes the breakdown in Muriel's marriage to his wife Beatriz. He's witness to Eduardo's coldness in his behaviour to her, her weeping and their arguments. At the same time, he's convinced that Dr Van Vechten, who often visits the house, is cruel to women and starts to follow him to investigate his life. 

This was a much longer book than I expected it to be, and in all honesty not masses happened in it in comparison to its length. However, it was incredibly well written. This was a kindle read for me, so I only read it before bed each night, but it took a couple of months to finish. I didn't lose interest in it, or forget what happened as I was reading, which often happens if a book takes so long to get through. I really wanted to know what the issues that Beatriz had that were hinted at, and to discover what was happening with van Vechten.

This is one of, if not the, most sensitive and astute book that I've read that deals with mental health issues that isn't a YA read. It discusses depression and suicide in a way that's neither brash or flippant or even patronising. These are part of the characters' lives and form a natural part of the narrative. It looks at manipulation, deceit and gendered power relations in a really strong way. I've given it four stars because, despite its length, it was a well-written, insightful read.

I would recommend this if you like books like 'Love in the Time of Cholera' or are interested in reading a book by a Spanish author.

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Review of 'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' by Sara Barnard

I read Beautiful Broken Things last year and it was a full on breath of fresh air for me. I WISH I'd had more authors when I was a teen that wrote about friendship and not just romance. BBT was the book that really made me fall in love with Sara Barnard's writing and now I just want to read all of her novels, especially Fierce Fragile Hearts, set in the same world as BBT.

When Rhys joins Steffi's school she's asked to show him the ropes, with a special nod to their shared skill: sign language. Rhys is deaf, and Steffi has selective mutism which has meant that she's learnt to use sign language to express herself as she's gotten older. The book is a YA love story (no spoilers - this kicks in pretty early on), about anxiety and disability and how you can navigate these as a teen. 

I really enjoyed this as a nice quick comfort read. I wouldn't say it's as good as BBT, but the insight into the insecurities and challenges you face as a teen absolutely hit the nail on the head. The plot is quite clear from the start, and there's the usual get together, someone cocks up, fall apart and get back together again narrative, but it's one I love.

I'm giving this 4 out of 5 stars and would recommend it if you like YA romance. It'd be a good book for getting you out of a reading slump - I was muttering 'just one more chapter' under my breath for roughly half the book!

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Review of 'A Clash of Kings' by George R R Martin

This year I went through a *bit* of a Game of Thrones reading phase, but WOW they are exhausting aren't they?! This one came in at almost 900 pages, and whilst the first 300 pages (aka pretty much an ENTIRE NORMAL BOOK) set all the different scenes of action, the rest of the book was very intense and I really did enjoy it.

The book is told from 9 main characters' perspectives (Arya, Bran, Sansa, Catelyn, Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, Davos, Theon), with an extra prologue from a tenth point of view, and I've broken the plot down into much more detail on my other blog here. It's the second and longest (in a single volume) book in the series. 

Joffrey, Renly and Stannis Baratheon all believe they have a claim to the Iron Throne after Robert Baratheon's death. With Robb Stark having proclaimed himself King of the North and Balon Greyjoy raising fights as a self-proclaimed king too, this time is declared the War of the Five Kings. 

Tensions are evidently high, and Stannis calls on witchcraft through the Red Lady to help him secure his foothold as a contender for the throne. Meanwhile, the Lannisters are still looking for a wedding with a Stark to tie the families together in the hope that at least one of them will be powerful by the end of the war.

The book culminates in the Battle of the Blackwater at King's Landing. It's fiery and deadly and changes everything for the warring factions.

This is my favourite book from the series that I've read so far. Whilst it was a VERY long read, it did mean that all of the action-packed scenes were set up with lots of details beforehand that really came together and made everything a lot more powerful. It's hard to summarise a 900 page book without going into masses of detail, but I really think this is where some of the characters really started to come to life. Sansa finally becomes tolerable, Bran becomes less tolerable but more himself, and Tyrion becomes even more likeable.

If you're a fan of the show, or sci-fi fantasy in general, then this really is a great read.

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Review of 'Holding up the Universe' by Jennifer Niven

After I fell in love with All The Bright Places earlier this year, I wanted to devour everything Jennifer Niven's ever written. Which, aside from some books aimed at a much younger audience than me, basically equates to just this book. I first bought this after seeing it recommended for one of the Zoella Autumn book clubs (what even happened to those?!), and it sat on my shelf unloved for a couple of years.

Libby Strout is known as 'America's fattest teen'. Dealing with her mum's death, Libby gained a lot of weight, forcing her to become housebound. Now however, she's able to go back to school after shedding some of it. She's filled with nerves about the prejudice surrounding her size that she knows other students will have, but she's determined.

Jack Masselin on the other hand looks like he has everything made for him: popular, good looking, and dating the hottest girl in the school. On the inside however, things are crumbling. Jack's suffering from a neurological condition that he's determined to keep a secret from everyone which causes him to be unable to recognise faces. He finds ways to remember who is who (their voice, or things like memorising hair colour etc), and pretty much everyone is duped. 

When one of the cruel tricks Jack's friends have been playing on Libby doesn't quite go to plan, Libby and Jack end up having to do counselling and volunteering together. The pair realise that not everything is the way it looks on the outside, and they might have more in common than they think.

I really enjoyed this book. It's possibly the first YA fiction I've read that has a female main character who is fat, and who isn't used as part of a joke in any way. She's not the best friend of someone with a love interest, or the younger sister, or the butt of the joke, or someone whose femininity has been stripped away. It's shocking and really sad that I can't think of a single book I read as an actual young adult that had a character like Libby in it, and I'm glad that this book is out there.

Niven also deals with mental health and neurological illness in a very profound way in the book. I think it's well with mentioning that she did a lot of research into Jack's illness, and had the book read through by someone who suffers with the same thing before it was published. The narrative looks at how both teens struggle with their mental health, and how this manifests itself in different ways, including panic attacks and anxiety. 

My one gripe is that it follows my least favourite trope of 'popular guy will turn his back on friends and popularity to date unpopular girl' that pervades so much YA fiction. It's such a lovely idea, but teens are selfish and scared of being rejected and outcast (which is totally okay - teenage years are rough), and it just really doesn't happen. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I really think there's an element of wishful thinking in this whole idea.

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Review of 'Wonder' by R. J. Palacio

In a world that seems to be more and more governed by bullying (whether that's nasty names at school, abuse on social media, or the increasing targeted harassment of minorities), it feels as though we can't make a big enough of a deal about the impact that your words and actions can have. Wonder is a YA novel with teen bullying at its heart, and it's a book that really makes you what kind of a person you were ~ or are ~ at school, and the effect that has on other people.

Wonder is a book about a ten year old boy with a facial disfigurement. He's been home-schooled all his life as his parents are fearful of how he'll feel if other people are nasty to him. However, when he reaches middle school age, they (somewhat reluctantly) agree to send him to a proper school. The headmaster grants him a chaperone, who August (the boy) soon finds out is being nasty about him behind his back. 

The book tells the story of what it's like to be a kid struggling with your own identity, as well as people's reactions to it. August is a boy with a lot of issues going on at home, and the book highlights how the bullying intersects with this and exacerbates everything. It looks at the benefits of real friendship, and showing August making friends for the first time in his life really is written very well.

My one main gripe with the book is that it weirdly sexualises one of the main characters who's a ten year old girl. It made me sit back with a bit of a 'yikes' and has totally decreased my star rating for the book as a whole. I think there were times at which the author was trying to make such complex characters, and include an edge of romance in this that they started to come across as teens rather than children. It would have been a five star read if not for this, but it just didn't sit right with me. 

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Review of 'Brighton Rock' by Graham Greene

I never thought I'd be saying I enjoyed a Graham Greene book. After being forced to read a truly bleak passage from one of his books during my a-level English studies I was convinced I'd never read anything from this dreary author again if I could help it.

And then I gave him another go, and it turns out I must have had to read a really rubbish part of his writing because I was hooked from the very first line of Brighton Rock. As it turns out, I'm a fan and I now want to read all his other works.

The book takes place in Brighton, but imagine less of the fun vibe, and more of a rainy murderous one. Charles 'Fred' Hale is a journalist come to Brighton to hand out newspaper cards as part of a competition. Having previously written an article that resulted in the leader of a local mob's death however, Hale begins to realise he's unsafe. 

On the other side of the tracks we have Pinkie, the new teenage leader of the gang. Desperate to prove that he's not just a kid, and to keep the mob in control, he becomes ever more dangerous as the book progresses.

And completing our circle of three, we have Ida Arnold, who met Fred on the day he was killed, and who's the only one determined to track down his killer, or even to find out what happened to him at all. 

This murder thriller had me gripped and felt like the ultimate Bugsy Malone style mob fiction. Greene managed to make the whole book so cleverly vivid that I feel like I can still imagine some of the scenes and the characters, without it having been too wordy. Set in the 1930s, I found this really hard to place time-wise as I was reading, as it almost seem to exist outside of time.

There were a couple of bits where the narrative slowed down a little too much for me, and I could never really connect with Hale, so I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

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Review of 'The One Memory of Flora Banks' by Emily Barr

I read so much good YA fiction earlier this year, and (finally) writing up some of the reviews for them is making me want to read all the rest of the YA on my shelves. The One Memory of Flora Banks isn't a book I'd heard much about before I read it, but the cover is so pretty that I couldn't not pick it up.

This book tells the story of Flora Banks, a teen suffering with severe amnesia as a result of a brain tumour. She remembers nothing day-to-day, and has had the same best friend since before she was ill: Flora remembers her, just like she remembers her parents and brother, though sometimes this (and everything else) takes a little coaxing. She wakes up every day not knowing who she is, or being able to trust that she'll remember enough to be safe.

And then one day she kisses a boy, and the next day she remembers. It's SUCH a breakthrough for Flora, and would be great if it wasn't her best friend's boyfriend (the girl that's stuck by her side through everything). And, if she could remember that her bestfriend is pretty pissed off and won't want to answer her calls that would be pretty good too. However, now Flora has hope, and she heads off on an adventure in search of the boy who she thinks will unlock her memories for her. 

This book really reminded me of Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, but I much preferred this book. I felt as though it taught you a lot about amnesia, why it happens and its different types. Flora as a main character was written so well, and I felt that it was important that the book was from Flora's point of view: when she was confused, so were you. I've given this four stars because there were points where I wanted the plot to move along a bit quicker, and a few moments that I found quite jarring. Overall, it was a good YA about family and friendship, growing up and first crushes and I think it encapsulated those things really well in quite a short (300-odd page) book.

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Review of 'The Summer of Impossible Things' by Rowan Coleman

Magic realism isn't my favourite writing style, especially when it's used as a trope to push a story along. However, when it's done right, it can make a book ... well, a bit magical. The Summer of Impossible Things (2018) is one of the better examples I can think of, where the author's managed to blend the magic into the rest of the book and the plot and make it believable.

When Luna and her sister head to their mum's old apartment in Brooklyn, they're determined to get to know her a little better. In the years before her death, they knew she was struggling with something that had plagued her, and it's only now that she's gone that she's prepared to let them know the truth. Thirty years before, their mum was happy and thriving, a teen ready to face the big wide world, and Luna wants to know what changed.

What she's not prepared for is how much the trip will change her. Luna begins to struggle with intense headaches, and fears the worst. However, as they flare up, she begins to see her surroundings shift: though she doesn't know it at first, she's gone back to 1977. Switching between the present and a past where she has the opportunity to meet her mum before she became a mother, Luna struggles to comprehend what's happening. Soon she realises that these transitions through time are going to offer her the answers she's looking for.

This is a story that does magical realism well, without it jarring you out of the story or making it *too* unbelievable. More importantly however, it's a story that does love and loss and grief and family well. I loved seeing Luna and her mum bond (despite the years and the secrets between them) and trying to work out exactly what had happened. It was a full on page-turner that I could not put down.

*Trigger warning - sexual assault*

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Review of 'How to Stop Time' by Matt Haig

I've been following Matt Haig on twitter for a LONG time, and I love his honesty and ability to really get to the heart of things even in as short a writing format as a tweet. However, it wasn't until this year that I actually read one of his books, and now I want to read them all. 

Haig is a big advocate for improving mental health services, talking about men's mental health and living in a way that is positive for you. Though this isn't the main message of the book, or even really at its forefront, I think it's there in the way the main character presents his outlook on the world.

The book follows the story of Tom Hazard, a man with a rare condition that means he ages much much slower than the average person. Born in Shakespearean times, Tom's story line flits from the present day back to when he was a child, and explains why Tom behaves the way he does. Over time, he's learnt that nothing really matters apart from love and that it's the only thing that isn't completely transient. Having lost his wife to the plague when he was young, Tom knows that his daughter Marion is someone like him and he's desperate to find her.

Tom was discovered by an agency that protects people with the same condition as him. He's assigned to seek out someone that is suspected to be the same, and either recruit them or make sure they're not able to tell anyone that people like him exist. 

I honestly LOVED this book and gave it five stars. I'm a massive fan of back stories for characters (honestly the more in-depth the better, and don't even get me started on prequels). I'm also a big fan of historical fiction, and learning more about history, so this was right up my street, albeit in a heavily fictionalised version kinda way. The book took us through Shakespearean times to Tom meeting F Scott Fitzgerald, and all around the world too. 

Sometimes books like this delve too much into the side of creating a really nice back story for a character without any real plot, but I loved learning about the dark side of the society that Tom ends up a part of, and I felt this added some much-needed drama to the story. I could honestly read book after book from this world, and I'd be SO into hearing the story of Tom's daughter and how she's grown up differently in a world that hates people that are 'different'.

It reads a little like YA fiction, though I'm not sure if it's intended as adult literary fiction. I think as something that comes across a bit YA-ey, it's important that this isn't a traditional romantic love story. but a familial love story because those are honestly so rare in the genre.

I would recommend this to YA fiction fans, especially if you enjoy historical fiction too!

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Review of 'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry

It kind of seems as though 2019 might be the year of literary fiction for me? I'm actually reading books that have been brought out ~fairly~ recently (aka in the past five years) and they are real adult lit fic? Am I alright?

For real though, this is a genre I've largely steered clear of in the past just because other ones interest me more. Now that I've got my teeth sunk in a little though there are SO MANY that I want to pick up and give a go. 

The novel kicks off with a mysterious death of a man, which is later attributed to be caused by a mythological beast named the Essex Serpent. The main story then starts with the death of Cora Seaborne's abusive husband. Set in 1893, Cora lives in a time where she couldn't leave this man, and inwardly rejoices that he's lost his hold over her.

Desperate to leave her boring, restrictive life behind, Cora takes her son Frances and his governess to Essex, to be a little removed from the hustle of London life. She is an inquisitive woman, who places reason and science before religion. When a couple of friends suggest that she stay with a priest and his wife and children so that she can find out more about this Essex Serpent, Cora is a little apprehensive, but decides to go for it.

The book questions the boundaries between fact and fiction, faith and science, and where the boundaries lie between morality and immorality. Cora's own sense of what is right is put in jeopardy by her desires, and she loses sight of the strange behaviour of Frances. On the surface, he's a naughty little boy who won't do what he's told, but deep down he's a little troubled, and much more interesting than at first glance.

I've given this a 3/5 stars, because although it's a very good imitation of a Victorian novel (my fave), and at times I felt as though I could be reading an Austen novel, there were some jarring anachronisms that totally took me out of the world of the book and made me remember that it is a modern novel. 

I did love the questioning of where the boundaries lie between being masculine and feminine, and I felt this was a real strength. However, the plot was spread very thinly throughout the book. I feel as though it might have worked a little better being 50 or so pages shorter, but I can see that the level of detail was part of the aura of it being a Victorian-esque novel.

I've heard so many people rave about this, and maybe if I'd gone in without this idea in mind it might have come across a little better! 

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Review of 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker

Aaaaand on to the first re-read of the year. I am a BIG Dracula fan. I took my time getting about to reading it the first time, and held off until I was 20. Basically I was still in the teenage phase of not wanting to like something because everyone said it was good so I didn't read it (so many regrets) until way after pretty much everyone on my uni course had given it a go. 

Anyhow, the first time around I read it for a first wave feminism module at uni and it was so interesting to approach the book from that perspective. This time around, however, my reading felt a little less focused and it allowed me the chance to notice a whole lot that I'd overlooked the first time around.

Dracula begins when Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business to meet a Count. When he arrives, the locals seem to fear him, wearing garlic around their necks and crossing themselves. He is attacked by wolves on his way to the Count's castle, but saved by the Count himself. Once he's there, he begins to notice that things aren't how you would expect. He never sees the Count during the day, most of the castle is closed off to him, and Jonathan ultimately realises he's trapped.

Back in England, his betrothed Mina Harker is staying with her closest friend Lucy Westenra, who is trying to deal with the (so hard) problem of having three very different men seeking her hand in marriage. However, soon Lucy's behaviour starts to become very concerning. She sleepwalks, and when she returns to her bed she seems pale and almost lifeless. 

Soon begins a battle between one of the most esteemed doctors of the time, Professor Van Helsing, and a force making nightly visits to Lucy, intent on draining her blood ...

This is one of the key Gothic horror novels, sitting alongside the likes of The Monk, Frankenstein and Edgar Allen Poe's poetry. It has all of the key elements of being an OG Gothic novel: a gloomy moody setting, supernatural elements, the sublime, the question of morality vs depravity, and a side helping of sexually depraved women. The language isn't too dense or antiquated, and whilst the book is quite lengthy, it does switch between various narratives to keep you on your toes.

I am such a big fan of the book, and would put it in my top ten all-time reads. I love how much popular fiction has come from the idea of Dracula put forward in this book, and thinking about how much of an impact it has had globally and across time just blows my mind. Basically, if you want to get into Gothic fiction (who doesn't?), this is a great book to start with, or use to delve deeper into the genre. 

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