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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The Unhoneymooners in Books
Jan 6, 2021
I picked this up a few months ago, not really knowing what it was about, but it was a steal at 99p and I've read books by this author before.
In this, Olive is chief bridesmaid at her sisters wedding. Ami has been a bit of a bridezilla but because of her love of competitions, everything has been free - more or less - at the wedding. Olive has been given a list of 50 things she has to check on the day of the wedding and one of them includes ordering a separate meal for herself (allergic to seafood) and the best man and her sworn enemy, Ethan, who has an aversion to buffet food. Turns out it's a good job she did as everyone falls ill after eating the seafood and she and Ethan end up going on the free honeymoon together. Once there, as they spend more time together, they realise that the other isn't as bad as they seem and they actually grow to like each other.
Hmm... I did like this but I wasn't fully into this. I didn't get butterflies reading of them falling in love. I wasn't sucked in to their love/hate relationship - it was a bit too tame for me in that regard. I think I snorted a handful of times at the things they said to each other or the situations they found themselves in while on the island of Maui but there's something I can't put my finger on. I was a little underwhelmed by the story.
One thing I was very gung ho about once the first little fibres started unravelling: Dane. There was just something about him. I'll let you figure out what when you read this.
In this, Olive is chief bridesmaid at her sisters wedding. Ami has been a bit of a bridezilla but because of her love of competitions, everything has been free - more or less - at the wedding. Olive has been given a list of 50 things she has to check on the day of the wedding and one of them includes ordering a separate meal for herself (allergic to seafood) and the best man and her sworn enemy, Ethan, who has an aversion to buffet food. Turns out it's a good job she did as everyone falls ill after eating the seafood and she and Ethan end up going on the free honeymoon together. Once there, as they spend more time together, they realise that the other isn't as bad as they seem and they actually grow to like each other.
Hmm... I did like this but I wasn't fully into this. I didn't get butterflies reading of them falling in love. I wasn't sucked in to their love/hate relationship - it was a bit too tame for me in that regard. I think I snorted a handful of times at the things they said to each other or the situations they found themselves in while on the island of Maui but there's something I can't put my finger on. I was a little underwhelmed by the story.
One thing I was very gung ho about once the first little fibres started unravelling: Dane. There was just something about him. I'll let you figure out what when you read this.
ClareR (5879 KP) rated False Witness in Books
Jul 27, 2021
False Witness is a standalone thriller by Karin Slaughter, and what a fantastic read it is!
It’s set during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we can see the drastic effect it’s had on people’s everyday lives, as well as the working life of a Leigh, a lawyer.
When Leigh walks in to a meeting with a new client - a man accused of violently raping a woman - she doesn’t expect to see someone from her past. It’s a past that she doesn’t talk about, and has told no-one about in its entirety. Even her husband.
Trevor Tennant is the boy that Leigh and her sister, Callie, used to babysit, and now it seems that he has picked up some of the bad habits that his father had: violence against women for one thing. Except Buddy Waleski, Trevors father, also liked very young girls.
Somehow, Trevor has found out what happened between his father and the sisters on the night Buddy disappeared, and blackmails Leigh in order to get him off all charges. He sees the acts of his paedophile father as acceptable, that Callie enjoyed the abuse - in fact he doesn’t believe it was abuse at all. The entitlement is strong in this story - as well as a twisted view of life in general!
Callie is such a vulnerable character. As strong as her sister is, Callie hides behind heroin. It’s a life of existing and getting to the next fix. She’s a really caring person though: she loves animals and she repeatedly puts others before herself.
This is a really dark, high paced, intelligent novel, and it kept me riveted to the screen as I read it in instalments on The Pigeonhole. It was torture waiting for the next instalment, and I’d definitely recommend it!
It’s set during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we can see the drastic effect it’s had on people’s everyday lives, as well as the working life of a Leigh, a lawyer.
When Leigh walks in to a meeting with a new client - a man accused of violently raping a woman - she doesn’t expect to see someone from her past. It’s a past that she doesn’t talk about, and has told no-one about in its entirety. Even her husband.
Trevor Tennant is the boy that Leigh and her sister, Callie, used to babysit, and now it seems that he has picked up some of the bad habits that his father had: violence against women for one thing. Except Buddy Waleski, Trevors father, also liked very young girls.
Somehow, Trevor has found out what happened between his father and the sisters on the night Buddy disappeared, and blackmails Leigh in order to get him off all charges. He sees the acts of his paedophile father as acceptable, that Callie enjoyed the abuse - in fact he doesn’t believe it was abuse at all. The entitlement is strong in this story - as well as a twisted view of life in general!
Callie is such a vulnerable character. As strong as her sister is, Callie hides behind heroin. It’s a life of existing and getting to the next fix. She’s a really caring person though: she loves animals and she repeatedly puts others before herself.
This is a really dark, high paced, intelligent novel, and it kept me riveted to the screen as I read it in instalments on The Pigeonhole. It was torture waiting for the next instalment, and I’d definitely recommend it!
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The National Book Award-winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt...
Sufferborn
6.0
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Her life had been planned out for her, until an elf with a fiery past came to tempt her future. ...
Dark Fantasy
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10.0
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A POWERFULLY EVOCATIVE AND EMOTIONALLY CHARGED NOVEL FROM THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF CORELLI'S MANDOLIN...
Historical Fiction First World War Family Saga
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9.0
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A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women—two...
ClareR (5879 KP) rated Medusa: The Girl Behind The Myth in Books
Sep 28, 2021
Now THIS is the side of the story I have always wanted to hear about! Medusa’s OWN story from her OWN mouth. In mythology, she is always portrayed as ugly, dangerous and unpredictable - lethal. In this story, we see a young girl, afraid and alone, forced to live away from others in case she hurts them - or they harm her. Her only companions, a dog and her sisters, the Gorgons, who fly out to hunt during the day, returning to their sister at night with food.
One day, a boy lands his boat on the island - it’s Perseus.
We see the side of Medusa that the original myth writers would never have imagined: a young girl who is taken advantage of, vulnerable, used by men for their own pleasure, and then blamed for something that she has no control over.
In the original stories, she gets her just desserts. Medusa is ugly and not to be trusted. It gives an insight into how men regarded women at this time. Be subservient. Be a virgin. Don’t get raped, and if you do, it’s your own fault - you brought it on yourself (I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about this). Women don’t come out of myth and legend terribly well.
I absolutely loved this. Medusa isn’t a meek, mild victim, but neither is she evil. She knows, or has some idea anyway, her glance can cause a lot of damage - so she hides herself away.
And in this story, not a single head is lost.
The illustrations are gorgeous as well.
I wonder if Jessie Burton will write more Greek myths in this way? Because I’m all in!
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for my copy of this gorgeous book through NetGalley.
One day, a boy lands his boat on the island - it’s Perseus.
We see the side of Medusa that the original myth writers would never have imagined: a young girl who is taken advantage of, vulnerable, used by men for their own pleasure, and then blamed for something that she has no control over.
In the original stories, she gets her just desserts. Medusa is ugly and not to be trusted. It gives an insight into how men regarded women at this time. Be subservient. Be a virgin. Don’t get raped, and if you do, it’s your own fault - you brought it on yourself (I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about this). Women don’t come out of myth and legend terribly well.
I absolutely loved this. Medusa isn’t a meek, mild victim, but neither is she evil. She knows, or has some idea anyway, her glance can cause a lot of damage - so she hides herself away.
And in this story, not a single head is lost.
The illustrations are gorgeous as well.
I wonder if Jessie Burton will write more Greek myths in this way? Because I’m all in!
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for my copy of this gorgeous book through NetGalley.
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated A Lady’s Guide To Fortune Hunting in Books
Nov 13, 2022
A very Bridgerton-esque book, and I loved it just as much as I loved the Bridgertons series.
Kitty Talbot must find a husband, a rich one, or she faces losing her home and her sisters being split up from her. After her father’s death, she has acquired his substantial debt and can no longer put off paying it. After selling most of their belongings, she has nothing left to sell and time is running out. This is when she comes up with a scheme that will solve all: she will go to London and have a season with the ton to find a rich husband to pay off her debts. She asks for the help of her mother’s best friend who insists that she brings along her prettiest sister. Kitty and Cecily set off for London with the hope of fixing all their problems.
Once there, Kitty comes up with various different schemes to catch the eyes of the gentlemen of the ton, such as falling and letting her slipper fly off on a walk just in front of a gentleman by the name of Archie de Lacy, whose sister Cecily went to school with. Kitty thinks this is the answer to all her problems, that is until his older brother Lord Radcliffe comes back from the country and forbids Kitty to marry Archie after seeing straight through her schemes.
The rest of the book has you rooting for Kitty to find her husband, whilst also wanting Kitty and Lord Radcliffe to realise how they truly feel about each other.
This was an easy read, and it was fun to revisit the ton and the Bridgerton era but through the eyes of a different author. I think Sophie Irwin wrote a fantastic book and I look forward to reading her next book!
Kitty Talbot must find a husband, a rich one, or she faces losing her home and her sisters being split up from her. After her father’s death, she has acquired his substantial debt and can no longer put off paying it. After selling most of their belongings, she has nothing left to sell and time is running out. This is when she comes up with a scheme that will solve all: she will go to London and have a season with the ton to find a rich husband to pay off her debts. She asks for the help of her mother’s best friend who insists that she brings along her prettiest sister. Kitty and Cecily set off for London with the hope of fixing all their problems.
Once there, Kitty comes up with various different schemes to catch the eyes of the gentlemen of the ton, such as falling and letting her slipper fly off on a walk just in front of a gentleman by the name of Archie de Lacy, whose sister Cecily went to school with. Kitty thinks this is the answer to all her problems, that is until his older brother Lord Radcliffe comes back from the country and forbids Kitty to marry Archie after seeing straight through her schemes.
The rest of the book has you rooting for Kitty to find her husband, whilst also wanting Kitty and Lord Radcliffe to realise how they truly feel about each other.
This was an easy read, and it was fun to revisit the ton and the Bridgerton era but through the eyes of a different author. I think Sophie Irwin wrote a fantastic book and I look forward to reading her next book!