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Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Billy and Me in Books

Jun 24, 2019

Billy and Me

Giovanna Fletcher | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is a very, very different genre than I usually read. It was romantic and contemporary and kind of cliche and gross. But I will admit that it was written well.

Despite the gooey topics, this book was easy to sit and read through. The writing was good, though some of the speech didn't feel particularly authentic. My main problem was how cliche this was. A young woman who loves classic literature andworks in a tea shop meets a movie star without realising who he is and falls in love... Yeah, it's kind of a stereotypical romance. I hate this sort of thing. It's tacky and just ugh. But there was more to it than just the romance, which was very good. Sophie had her own issues to deal with, stemming from childhood grief and caring for her mother. It even had a really tragic moment toward the end, that didn't involve the actor - Billy - much at all.

As I mentioned above, the language wasn't always particularly fluid. It sometimes felt like Fletcher was trying too hard to make it more romantic and emotional. Billy was pretty much 'perfect' and extremely romantic, probably extremely unrealistically so. He was likeable, still, just not very realistic.

Sophie herself was a bit... not annoying, but she's not my favourite protagonist ever. She was trying too hard to be unique and strong and independent and it just irritated me. I get what Fletcher was going for (I think) but I just didn't love Sophie that much at all.

Like most other contemporary novels (not that I've actually read many of them), Sophie's life comes together perfectly at the end. Well, not quite perfectly, but the ending was sickly sweet. But I'm a bit of a cynic. You might like this more than me.

Despite the genre and gross cutesy lovey stuff, I think this deserves 3.5 stars. The writing was good and I did actually enjoy reading it.

Kudos

Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated The Heartless City in Books

Jun 24, 2019

Read my original review: https://bookmarkedreading.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/book-review-the-heartless-city/

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return of my honest opinion.

The Heartless City is based on the infamous story of Jekyll & Hyde, with a wonderful new plot.

London is infested with Hydes thanks to Dr Henry Jekyll. Jekyll is also responsible for Iris; an American girl with a unique talent.

Buckingham palace is home to the Lord Mayor, as well as his son Cam and the doctor and his own son, Elliott Morrissey. Elliott also has a strange gift, but not one he was born with. After taking a serum intended to remove his empathy, Elliott found that it did quite the opposite. Instead, he became an empath - able to feel the emotions of those around him as if they were his own.

The characters in this old-fashioned story are all very different, including the strong, independent female figure of 15-year-old Philomena Blackwell. She refuses to fit in with the typical norms of her time, which I really liked.

Elliott's new empathy is also used to confront the negative opinions on homosexuality when he feels his friends love for each other and realises that it is no different to the love he himself would feel for a girl. I absolutely loved this little sub-plot.

The book is written to sound like it was written in the 1900s, when it was set. However, I found the story a little slow at times, and then far too fast toward the end. Everything just kind of happened all at once. That being said, the conclusion was very clever and interesting.

It was definitely an interesting read. I tend to just read more modern novels, so this was a refreshing change. But there are definitely a few things that could be changed, so I'm going to give 3.5 stars to The Heartless City.