Review of 'The Friendly Ones' by Philip Hensher

I'm a big 'always judge a book by its cover' kind of person, so if this hadn't have been a book club read for me I honestly could say I think I'd have gone my whole life without every getting anywhere near reading this book. Sometimes a book that I think is going to be not my thing surprises me, but unfortunately I was pretty right on this one.

The book tells the stories of two neighbouring families in the UK. It kicks off with Nazia and Sharif hosting a massive family party, whilst their elderly neighbour Doctor Spinster looks on and tries to get involved. Chapters then switch between Sharif and Nazia's life and Hilary Spinster and his family's. 

We switch between Sheffield and Bangladesh, where Nazia and Sherif lived before moving to the UK. In Sheffield we are taught about the struggles of a seemingly loveless marriage between Hilary and his wife Celia. In Bangladesh the reader learns about the history around the lead up to independence for the country. It was an interesting read, but I found myself only wanting to hear about Nazia and Sherif's story. I've never read a book set in Bangladesh before, and it made Hilary's side of spoiled adult kids not caring about their parents totally drag in comparison.

I'm really not a massive fan of literary realism, and whilst some people in my book group loved the author taking you through the mundanity and boring parts of both families' everyday life, it's really something I wasn't a fan of. There were definitely parts I loved, but sometimes it took another 100 pages to get to another bit I enjoyed, so I've given the book three stars. I'd recommend this if you're a fan of Sally Rooney's 'Conversations with Friends'.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram

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.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram

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.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram 

Review of 'Two Can Keep A Secret' by Karen M. McManus

I am a BIG Karen McManus fan - she's becoming one of my fave YA authors to read as an adult, and I'm so excited to read One of Us in Next and Cousins when it is released. She's really good at writing realistic teens in a modern setting, and I love the murder mystery aspect of both this and One of Us is Lying. She's absolutely someone whose books I want to read as soon as they're released (and absolutely as always never seem to *quite* get around to). 

Set in Echo Ridge, a small town in America, twins Ellery and Ezra are adjusting to life with their grandma. After their mum ended up in rehab, they're determined to make the most of a new life in a new town. However, once they're there they start to find out more about their missing aunt and the girl that now goes missing from their school. With a passion for true crime, Ellery's determined to uncover the secrets this quite town holds.

I really enjoyed this. There were a whole host of small mysteries slotted into a fairly short book (320-ish pages): what was their mum like as a teen? What happened to their missing aunt? Who killed the girl five years ago? And what's happening now? It was really well written, and kept me completely hooked from start to finish. 

McManus writes genuinely good YA crime fiction, and if you're fans of Sarah Dessen's books, or liked a bit of Nancy Drew back in the day, I'd really recommend her.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram

Review of 'An American Marriage' by Tayari Jones

I really struggle to want to read books that have been hyped up - the expectation of them being great books is there and so the risk of being disappointed in a book sky rockets. Anyhow, I bit the bullet with An American Marriage and ended up really loving it. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of plot from the book, but I was totally hooked. Before I get into the review properly I just want to put a big trigger warning out there that the book does discuss rape and a rape trial.

Roy and Celeste are newlyweds living in the south Unites States. Right at the start of married life, Roy is accused of raping a woman at a hotel. Celeste know's he's innocent, but he ends up in prison for it. Pushing their relationship to its limits, over his 12 years in prison they mostly communicate in letters. Roy is struggling being incarcerated and feeling the injustice of a justice system so heavily prejudiced against people of colour like himself. Celeste on the other hand is struggling to navigate a 'normal' life on the outside in which she's a newlywed with no husband.

This really was a heartbreaking story for me, and yet one that was so realistic. By splitting the narrative to cover both Celeste's life and Roy's, you understand the pain they both feel, but also their frustration and even anger at the other person. It's a story about loyalty, and how far that has to be stretched, as well as a story about love and loss and justice. This whole idea that your world can get pulled out from under your feet for something you didn't do is terrifying, and the book is really great at showing how scary life can be as a minority in the US where the justice scales are already opposed to you.

I loved this book. Usually I find that I don't enjoy love stories that don't follow a traditional linear path, however the plot for this was so well written and so realistic that I really enjoyed it. The normal narrative in the book is broken up by the letter writing between the pair which made everything feel a little more poignant for me. I would really recommend this and gave it five stars.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram

Review of 'Love and Other Gods' by Michael Nangla

Every so often I feel really glad that I studied Philosophy as part of one of my A-levels because there are so many references to it in different things. I mean, not that I remember all of it, but there's some basic understanding there. Reading Love and Other Gods made me glad for this because, even though I found it a little tricky to get to grips with, I had some understanding of what the novel was about because of this background.

Love and Other Gods is a story about mental illness and growing up through it. Written in a sort of autobiographical style, it starts with the author struggling to get to grips with his mental health whilst a student at university and the shame and pressure he feels from his family as a result of it. He knows how important it is that he finishes university to his parents who came to England from Pakistan looking for a better life for their children. 

The book delves into Michael's psychosis and the breakdown of relationships, jobs and a sense of security in his life as a result of it. A philosophy scholar, he breaks up these sections of truly raw retellings of his psychosis with deep philosophical thought and understanding. 

I really admire the bravery in the author delving into these really dark moments in his life. He exposes some of his most traumatic thoughts and actions, which I'm sure a lot of us even shy away from thinking about, let alone speaking about. However, I found the intense philosophical exploration that was mingled with this really jarring. I think these two key components of the book didn't mesh very well together, and the book might have been better as two novellas, or with the philosophy side less intense. I think I would have found it almost impossible to keep up with if I had no knowledge of key philosophers/theory, and it made the book a much more difficult read than I anticipated.

I've given this three stars because I think it would make for an interesting read if you're interested in understanding more about how philosophy and individual mental health issues can relate to one another.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram 

Review of 'Austerlitz' by W. G. Sebald

When I was a teen I LOVED learning more about the world wars from a more human perspective. Michael Morpurgo's writing really inspired me to find more stories like Private Peaceful and I think this interest in a human response to something that's so hard to imagine is something that's stuck with me since. 

Austerlitz tells the story of Jacques Austerlitz, a boy who came to England on Kindertransport in 1939. As an adult, he wants to seek out his roots and begins a journey of trying to discover his birth family and where he came from. However, in post-war Europe, there are moments where this seems completely impossible: Jacques does not know the name he was born with, exactly where he came from or the names of any of his family members.

The story is a bleak one. Written in one long narrative with no chapter breaks throughout the book, the author really shows how relentless and exhausting this journey feels for Jacques. With twinges of memories interspersed with masses of sections of the unknown, Jacques really is facing something hard to quantify. 

I found this a really difficult read. A lot of the book was wound up in Jacques travels and discussing the new landscapes that face him. I always find books with no chapter breaks very difficult to get really into and keep on top of exactly what's going on. It is a sad story of the kind of administrative nightmare that exists in a post World War Europe. There were lots of photographs in the text which helped to break it up a little, but these were printed so small in the kindle edition I read that it was hard to work out what exactly was going on in them.

I gave this 2 stars - whilst it did make me think abut the difficulties of growing up abroad during the war, I found it pretty tough going.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram 

Review of 'Circe' by Madeline Miller

Last year there seemed to be a real trend for feminist retellings of Greek stories. I had to read the Iliad and the Odyssey as part of my English lit degree and really enjoyed delving into these stories that had at least in part made their way into modern pop culture (who hasn't heard of Icarus flying too close to the sun, in some form?). Circe really brought me back to that but from a whole different direction, which I loved.

Circe is the witch who kept Odysseus trapped on her island whilst he was trying to make his way back home from war. However, this story starts way before then, showing us a more human, or at least rational, side to Circe. Although a child of Helios, god of the sun, Circe is a weaker demigod, born of a nymph. After realising she had some powers and using them to punish the people she hated, Circe was banished to live out her existence on an island away from all other gods.

Here she spends her time cultivating her powers, using plants she grows on her island to assist her. As a woman who quite simply won't do what she's told, Circe enrages men, both human and god alike. This book showcases the struggles of a woman who loves several men who don't love her back, who yearns for the affection of a father and who is angry, rightfully so, and punished for the outbursts of anger she expresses.

Although it was a little slow in places, this really was a very thoughtful and interesting read. I loved how Circe's story intertwined with other myths we've read about (the birth of the Minotaur, Scylla, Ariadne and the maze, Odysseus' return home and slaughter of his wife's suitors). It was really great to have these stories re-envisaged through a woman's eyes. And a flawed woman at that. This really was one of the most important parts of the book for me. Circe doesn't fit neatly into one of the characters that you often would have in this kind of fiction: in the Odyssey she plays an evil witch gone mad with power and lust for Odysseus. In this however, she's much more complex. Women are also placed at the forefront of all of the other side stories too, and I think this made for a really interesting way of telling them too.

I've given this 4 out of 5 stars, only because as I mentioned, there were parts that I really think could have been paced a little better, and that I slightly lost interest during.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram

Review of 'Crazy Rich Asians' by Kevin Kwan

Do you ever come across a series and end up with a whole new obsession?! Honestly I wish this had been published when I was a teenager (which makes me feel really old) because I would have loved it so much, possibly even more than I do now. I've just finished the second book in the series (China Rich Girlfriend), so I'm on a big Kevin Kwan hype at the moment.  

Rachel Chu and her boyfriend Nick Young live together in New York working as professors at a university. When Nick suggests that the pair spend their summer in Singapore and visit his family, she has no idea what she's about to experience. You see, Rachel has no idea that Nick's family is super rich (crazy rich even), and her expectations of their summer trip are completely turned on their head. With her university friend Peik Lin (an international student who lives in Singapore now) by her side, Rachel tries to navigate a world where everyone is suspicious of her intentions and jealous of her attachment to Nick.

This is one of the most intense, drama-filled, funny books that I've read in a long time. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be a more extreme version of Gossip Girl. The book's told from a few different perspectives, and it made for a very fast-paced book as you got to see the plotting and conniving from a whole variety of angles. I watched the film shortly after reading the book too and I think it's going to be a firm favourite for me - it really did the book justice and I hope they make films for the other books in the series!

Now all I need to do is get my hands on the third installment - Rich People Problems.

I gave this 4/5 stars. It was a little hard to dip in and out of as the text was quite dense, but as I mentioned, it really is a firm favourite!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram 

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.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

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!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Body Positive Power' by Megan Jayne Crabbe

If I could only recommend one book I read last year this would be it every single time. I hope in the near future there's copies of this in all school and public libraries so that there's something at least standing in the way of the flooding of self-hate that teenagers, particularly girls, are encouraged to accept and participate in.

Body Positive Power exceeded all my expectations from the off. Although I follow the author on social media platforms, I was a little prejudiced in thinking this was going to be a bit shallow and fall short of what it could be. However, it was incredibly well-researched; there was SO much I learnt throughout the whole book, and everything was backed up with articles or books the author had read.

The book explores modern diet culture, starting from the roots of how it's come to be what it is over the past few hundred years. Megan Crabbe explores how the whole industry has become so pervasive everywhere, and how information has been taken by the diet industry to suit their own needs. A couple of things that really shocked me (without giving away too much) are these: being underweight kills far more people than being overweight; only 5% of the population can achieve the body goal we've all been told is possible, so no matter how hard you try you are likely to never reach it; BMI was never designed to be a measurement of health for all people.

There are trigger warnings throughout, so if you are struggling with an eating disorder, or don't feel comfortable with certain things, Megan's added in handy 'stop here' and 'start again here' signs, so you can skip over any potential triggers without having to scan the page to see where you can pick up again.

As I said, I thought this book was incredible and I'll be lending it to as many people I know as will agree to read it!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill

I'm not a fan of anything 'scary'. No thank you horror films. I still remember when I was at school and the drama kids went on a trip to see The Woman in Black in the theatre and spoke about how terrifying it was. Everyone else was gutted they couldn't go on the trip but I was pretty glad I didn't have to watch something that would make me scream. Anyway, I've found the prettiest little copy of the book and after finally going to see it in the theatre last year I can confirm I would/did scream and also have nightmares. Such fun.

Arthur Kipps is an old man now, and can hardly bear to hear his grandchildren tell ghost stories. When they finally badger him into telling them one, he launches into his tale of the woman in black, a tale that wasn't just a story for him.

When Kipps is a young man, he is asked to secure the estate of Alice Drablow by his boss, and arrange her affairs after her recent death. He travels to her home unaware of what awaits him. The townspeople avoid the house, and warn him to look after himself. The more time he spends there the more he feels as though he's not alone, and after he asks around as to who the woman in a black dress that he sees wandering around is, he realises that he's the only one who sees her.

This book was honestly frightening. Susan Hill is incredible at creating a terrifying atmosphere that builds and builds as the novel grows more tense. There's some twists and turns in it that I absolutely did not see coming, and I finished the book fully shocked. I can see this as something I'll come back to over and over again in coming years as it was such a good quick read that's different to what I would normally go for. I've given this 4 stars.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Reading in the Dark' by Seamus Deane

Despite its geographical proximity, I really haven't read much literature from Ireland, and I don't know too much about it either. I did the whole Seamus Heaney poetry thing as part of my English a-level, but I've rarely stretched out beyond that. 

Set in Derry, Reading in the Dark is a coming of age story, stretching from the main character's boyhood in the 1940s up to the 70s. With a background of The Troubles, the book dips into a lot of Irish folklore and the need for small town gossip. The reader starts the book innocent of any knowledge of the boy's family history, as the boy does himself, but as the book progresses the darkness and violence of the past leaps out in suspicions and confidences told to the boy by his family.

Following an unnamed main character makes you a little distanced from the story in my opinion, but it almost serves as a reminder that this could be any Derry child growing up in the Troubles. At the heart of the novel is religious and familial divide. It opens up to the reader how fraught these times were, and how knowledge is not always a good thing. 

There have been suggestions that the book is too similar to Seamus Deane's own upbringing and early life for it to be anything more than a memoir. Whether there's any truth to this or not, I enjoyed the book in its relative simplicity. We followed a boy starting (and struggling) to understand the world in which he lived, his loss of innocence and introduction to politics. It's a good read if you want a fairly simple insight to life as a child during the Troubles, and I enjoyed it although I didn't find it very gripping. I've given this 3 stars.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Th1rt3en' by Steve Cavanagh

I'm always a 'you have to read a series in order' kind of person ... unless it's crime fiction. Then I don't think it matters at all because they all have kind of a similar plot and the lives of the investigators fall into a secondary plot behind the main 'whodunnit' one. 

Th1rt3en was my favourite thriller of 2019. It's told from two perspectives. The first is Eddie Flynn's: a con-man turned lawyer trying to prove his client's innocence. The second is the killer who really has committed the crime the trial is based around. The problem is that he's on the jury. The trial is a high profile one: Hollywood's biggest couple are at the centre of it, with the husband accused of brutally murdering his wife. It's down to Flynn to convince the public that the conspiracy theories they've created and want to hold onto might not be true.

The book really keeps you guessing as to which juror the murderer is, how exactly he got there and whether Flynn will realise that his case is being sabotaged from the inside out. It delves into Flynn's own history of alcoholism, crime and personal struggles with certain people in the justice system. The plot came together so well at the end and I found myself totally absorbed the whole way through the book. The twists were well-written, well-paced and believable. I now can't wait to read Steve Cavanagh's other books!

I've given this book 5 stars and would recommend it if you're a fan of shows like The Mentalist or White Collar. 

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I had a hard time picking my favourite quote for this one, but I had to go with the opening sentence of the book. It made me realise from the very first moment that this book was special, and as it progressed I realised it's the most poetic prose I've ever read.

Love in the Time of Cholera is one of those books people have recommended to me over and over again, but I've always put off. Written almost twenty years after the author's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and hailed as another great classic, this is a tale of great unrequited love. Fermina Daza and her husband Juvenal Urbino have reached a platonic stage of their relationship in their old age. When he dies after falling off of a ladder at the start of the book, her childhood lover Florentino Ariza turns up at her house at the wake. 

The book then launches into the tale of this love that never quite came to be, right from the very start of their relationship. The book explores class divides and struggle in a country in South America, most likely Colombia although this is never stated explicitly. Their love can never be as Ariza is a poor man, trying to earn his way in the world but not proving very successful, whilst Fermina's father wants her to marry into an old noble family to better their social standing.

I loved this book. The author put a lot of emphasis into sensory descriptions of scenes, making them so vivid that you felt almost as though you were right there with the characters. I enjoyed the non-traditional love story narrative, and the different perspective you have in knowing from the start that the young lovers aren't going to end up together. It's a book about love in all its forms: physical, conversational, platonic, familial, sexual and even predatory.

I would really recommend this, especially if you're looking to engage more with South American literature.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'My Sister the Serial Killer' by Oyinkan Braithwaite

When I read this book I'd gotten into a bit of a rut with my kindle. I'd spent the last two months reading a book that went on seemingly forever and that I really didn't enjoy (I need to work on my inability to DNF a book). This was the perfect 'I'm breaking out of my rut' book - short, fast paced and different to anything else I read all of last year, this was the breath of fresh air that I needed.

Korede and her sister Ayoode live together with their mother in Nigeria, and although their lives changed quite a lot after their father's death, Korede's hoping things calm down a little. That is, until her sister calls her out of her shift at the hospital because she's killed her boyfriend. Again. Feeling like she has to help her sister (and knowing that as the older sister her mum would blame her if Ayoode was caught), she helps Ayoode hide the body. The book follows the two women's frantic need to cover up the fact that Ayoode is a serial killer. However, Korede's fears peak when Ayoode starts dating a man she likes at the hospital.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it gave snippets of insights into what it's like to grow up in a Nigerian household without making this disjointed from the tense murder plot. Although it was such a short book, the bond between the sisters was explored very well and I really did want to read it all as soon as possible. My one issue with the book was that it ended in a very odd place - the story stopped very abruptly without any kind of crux or resolution to what was happening in the plot. I would have loved another 50 pages or so more to reach some kind of conclusion, or tie the story off in a different place.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'The Antiquary' by Walter Scott

As I'm reading, I always try to dog-ear (I'm a monster) or bookmark pages on my book or kindle with quotes I love. I can usually tell if I didn't *really* enjoy a book if I've not saved any pages to go back to. This is one of those books, and it took me a LONG time to find something I thought was half decent to use for this post. 

The Antiquary starts with a journey that a man named Lovel and an antiquary called Oldbuck take together to Scotland. At the centre of the book is mystery surrounding who Lovel really is, and we start to discover more and more about him through his interactions with the antiquary. 

I really struggled with this book - it's something I just couldn't wrap my head around. There is a lot of text in this written in Scottish dialect that made it a very slow read. I found I was focusing more on deciphering what was being said than thinking about the meaning behind the words and then missed a lot of that. It was a fairly hefty read (at over 500 pages), but there just wasn't masses of plot to keep me interested. 

I gave this 1 star and can't say I'd really recommend it.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Someone we Know' by Shari Lapena*

*This was a gifted book to discuss on Instagram (no obligation to write a full review)

Clearly I had a bit of a thriller rampage last summer (which is absolutely where I'm up to on catching up with book reviews *clenches teeth*). Shari Lapena's fast becoming one of my favourite thriller authors, and I've been eyeing up reading her other books for a couple of months now. She seems to be really great at making you think you're clever and that you know who the culprit is, and then switching things up and making you realise that you weren't as clever as you thought. BUT, the culprit is still really believable and the signs were there throughout the book. I love it, and have been totally duped by her on both of her books I've read.

This book is set in suburban New York where Olivia Cole has just found out that her teenage son has been breaking into people's homes and hacking into their computers. Unfortunately for their family, he's broken into the home of a woman who's gone missing, and as the police become more and more convinced she's no longer alive, the family begin to worry about their son's fingerprints all over the house. The reader enters the lives of a whole group of neighbours from their quiet street, including the husband of the missing woman, as we become more embroiled in this story of revenge and betrayal and secrets.

This wasn't my favourite book of Lapena's, but I did really enjoy it. I loved the fact that none of the characters were wholly good, and you could suspect everyone. It had a very Pretty Little Liars gossip-y small town feel, and worked really well in showing how all of the neighbours' lives intertwined. I'd recommend this for fans of fast-paced thrillers who want a quick read as it's slightly on the short side (just under 300pgs).

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review of 'Keep You Close' by Karen Cleveland*

*This book was gifted to me to discuss on Instagram*

I'm a big crime thriller fan, and this book was one of my favourite ones I read last year. It reminded me a LOT of TV shows like Homeland, and was a really fast-paced, FBI-laced drama.

Keep You Close's Steph Maddox is an internal investigations officer at the FBI, tackling those inside the bureau who are accused of wrongdoing. Her whole world gets titled on its axis when a colleague warns her that the bureau are looking into her son on some alleged terrorist charges. She knows her son wouldn't be involved in an online terror group, or at least thinks she does until she finds a gun in his room. The book follows her own attempts to find who could be framing her son whilst trying to wrap her head around the fact that there's a chance it *might* be him.

I loved almost all of this book, and would gave given it 5 stars right up until the ending. It's one of those stories where the writer tries to make the culprit someone you would never guess, and in doing so ruins the entire plot (I'm looking at you Pretty Little Liars). The book was left very open ended: most of the strands of the plot weren't tied up and the resolution was left as a sort of suggestion that could be undermined. It was pretty clear that there's a sequel in the works and a lot of the answers are being left for that, but having read it without the sequel available it was a bit disappointing.

If you are a fan of US crime dramas/thrillers or shows like Homeland I would really recommend this still as it keeps you guessing throughout and the writing and pacing is genuinely very good. It's just the open ending that let it down a bit IMO.

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube