Friday, 3 July 2020
Review: The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish
It all happens so quickly. One day you're living the dream, commuting to work by riverbus with your charismatic neighbour Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn't turned up for the boat and his wife Melia has reported him missing.
When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends - ask Melia, she'll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives?
No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent.
Review: Wow this book had so many twists and turns and revelations I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. And you never see any of them coming! I love Louise Candlish's writing and this book just solidified my love for it. I've been reading other, newer writers, and they just can't compete. Every single revelation is so intricately oven within the characters and within the plot that you really do gasp in surprise and what you thought you knew is thrown out the window at the end of every single chapter-so great!
Even main character Jamie is a massive conundrum who you never really get to the bottom of. I started off the book thinking they were one person and then the character development that takes place over the course of the novel is just extra ordinary. Jamie was intriguing but definitely someone you could meet in every day life, perhaps on your commute! The other 'Water Rats' the other passengers who commute with Jamie are also very true to life. I could picture them and their commute chatting, taking in the scenery. I also really liked the two main females in this book. They felt very like calculating villains in a movie and so they really came to life on the page for me.
This whole setting is so familiar, I've taken the river bus in London, I've commuted on a ferry in a couple of big cities and it is a really great way to travel, but what do we really know about the other people on that boat? Such a great premise for a book and because of this stellar writing, we get to experience it all as the plot progresses.
I also really loved the structure of this one. The present day plot takes place in those weird days between Christmas and New Year, an excellent time to set a book with as many twists as this because everything is already upside down. And then we jump back in time to the start of 2019 and gradually flash back and forward until the two points meet. This gives the book its intense feeling and that urgent need to keep turning the pages. We also have some bonus time after the new year and that is just inspired. I loved it.
Whether this is your first Louise Candlish novel or you are already a hardcore fan, you're going to love The Other Passenger. And sorry, not sorry that once you pick it up you won't be able to put it down again!
Thursday, 2 July 2020
June Reading Wrap Up 2020
I took a week 'off' in June. I watched a lot of TV and went on some lovely walks with my husband. I know reading isn't work but I scheduled everything for the week and took the pressure off but that did take it's toll on my TBR for the month...
Is anyone else struggling with reading still? I thought by now my zest for reading actual books and ebooks would have returned by now but I really am falling back on audiobooks. I can loose myself in my audiobooks whereas I find myself getting distracted when trying to read more than a few pages of a paperback or ebook.
As always I have broken down my reading into ebooks and audiobooks, I didn't read any physical books this month in the end. I have also linked any reviews I have already posted.
Ebooks
My Review
Audiobooks
This Month's Videos
Wednesday, 1 July 2020
July 2020 TBR
There are so many books out this July, I have a lot of them on ebook thanks to Netgalley or else I have pre-ordered them, or both! So this month will really be focused on getting through those Netgalley reads. I also have some buddy reads I want to get to this month so that should be fun!
And finally I have some more book to TV adaptations and a couple of other books I have committed to reading. Anything else on top of this list will be a bonus!
What are you hoping to read this month?
July Releases
Buddy Reads
Book to TV Adaptations
Other Books I want to Read
Tuesday, 30 June 2020
Guest Review: Crazy in Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop by Annie Darling
Nina is addicted to bad boys, the wilder, the better. Despite her friends’ misgivings, she firmly believes that true love only takes one form: wild, full of passion and fire and punctuated by tempestuous arguments. She won’t settle for anything less.
But years of swiping right has uncovered nothing but losers and flings, and Nina is no closer to finding her One True Love than she ever was. And when a man from her past walks into the shop Nina knows she has nothing to fear: the geekiest boy in her school has become a boring suit with no chance of making her heart go pitter patter.
Which just shows how little Nina knows about her heart…
Review: This is the third book in the Lonely Hearts Bookshop series by Annie Darling. I have read and enjoyed the first two parts in the series, and have been looking forward to continuing the stories behind those who work in the bookshop. This part could be read as a stand-alone, but I would recommend reading the other two parts of the series first for complete understanding of the story; there is frequent reference to events from the first two parts. I relished the opportunity to catch up with characters I had met in the previous books and to learn more about one in particular who took centre stage in this story.
The central character this time is Nina, a bookseller in the Happy Ever After bookshop, a store specialising in romantic fiction. Nina is obsessed with Wuthering Heights, and with Heathcliff in particular. She is searching for her own Heathcliff, but rarely progresses past the first date with men from the dating app she uses. She believes that she knows all the attributes of the man of her dreams. However, when Noah comes into her life, having been employed to help the bookshop’s owner grow the business, she finds herself becoming attracted to someone who strangely does not fit her requirements. What’s more, she realises that Noah is the awkward boy from her school days who at that time was branded a geek and bullied, and would rather that he didn’t remember her connection with that period in his life.
I loved the story of Nina. I think it is a classic situation of someone being absolutely sure of what they want and being surprised when they are attracted to the exact opposite. There is also the situation, familiar to us all, of not recognising someone out of context. By the time Nina places Noah, it is too late in their relationship for her to do anything and the reader is left holding their breath waiting for the penny to drop for him as well - excellent storytelling. I can’t say I liked Nina’s lifestyle at the start of the story, but at least she was willing to change. I really liked Noah, in particular the way he quietly observed people and took everything in; this was evidenced by a perfect surprise he planned for Nina. As with the other books in the series, there was a fair amount of humour in this story, often resulting from the banter among the bookshop staff. Definitely a book I would recommend for anyone wishing to escape for a few hours.
Monday, 29 June 2020
Review: Hello Again by Isabelle Broom
Philippa Taylor (Pepper to her friends) has big dreams. When she closes her eyes, she can picture exactly who she ought to be. The problem is, it's about as far away from her real life in a small coastal town in Suffolk as she can imagine.
So when her elderly friend Josephine persuades Pepper to accompany her on a trip to Europe, she jumps at the chance to change her routine. And when Pepper bumps (literally) into the handsome Finn in Lisbon, it seems as though she might have finally found what she's been looking for.
But Pepper knows all too well things are rarely as they seem. Her own quiet life hides a dark secret from the past. And even though she and Finn may have been destined to find each other, Pepper suspects life may have other plans as to how the story should end.
A romantic and sweeping story about friendship, love and realising that sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination.
Review: I always love Isabelle Broom’s writing and her ability to take me all over the world with her books.
I adored the travel aspect of this book because we get to go to some more unusual locations. I loved visiting Lisbon, Guernsey and Hamburg in the novel. I loved the sights and the sounds as well as the food and the drink of course. This author has such a way with words you can fall in love with a place and have the urge to visit even if you hadn’t even given it a second thought before. I also love her writing because you can literally taste everything her characters are eating, I just wish I didn’t feel the hangovers as much after the wine!
Pepper is an interesting and complex character. I will admit that I did struggle to connect with her a little over the course of the novel. She has had a certain amount of tragedy in her life and acts accordingly. I do feel like she is a little selfish at times but when we get to know her and her past, especially her family life we can see why. Then we have Josephine who is definitely a positive influence in Pepper. She also has a selfish streak but in a ‘I don’t care what you think of me’ kind of way which is really hard not to love.
Of course we don’t just have a love story when it comes to travel and location in this novel, we also get to meet Finn who takes a liking to our Pepper. Again though I did struggle to connect with him on the page a little, I was wishing someone better would come along, I guess I just have very different tastes to Pepper and that is just fine.
I loved the travel in this novel, I loved the writing and as always Isabelle Broom has left me with such vivid pictures in front of me thanks to her wonderful description and I can’t wait to see where she is going to take me next.
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