book recommendation

My Holiday Reads – Mini Reviews

~ fionareads ~ Leave a comment

I have spent the last two weeks travelling the beautiful Croatian coastline with my husband, and although we spent most of the time exploring, I still managed to fit in quite a few good books! A holiday isn’t a holiday if I don’t get through at least three!

9781447250944the-museThe Muse by Jessie Burton

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A picture hides a thousand words . . .

On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn’t know she had, she remains a mystery – no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.

The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .

The Muse was the best book I have read in ages, and definitely my favourite book of the holiday! It transported me to another era, another place, another lifetime – Jessie Burton achieved what she always achieves. She is an excellent historical fiction writer and her prose is lyrical, beautiful and evocative. She adds miniscule details to things in a way that no other author does. I loved The Muse a lot more than The Miniaturist, which I did enjoy, but struggled with at times. The Muse was never boring, the characters had great depth, the dual timelines worked perfectly (which isn’t always the case!) and the storyline was incredibly intriguing and left you guessing until the last page. Nothing was predictable, but it was exhilarating, imaginative, and completely transported you to another time and place. The scene setting of Spain in 1936 and London in 1967 was what I enjoyed most about the story. It is a tale of love, lust, betrayal and danger, and the parallel settings and easy narrative voice help to draw you in spectacularly. I am so excited to see where Jessie Burton goes next – she has yet to disappoint me!

9781447266945carry-onCarry On by Rainbow Rowell

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Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.

This was a book that I had had on my TBR shelf for a very long time, but was always hesitant to start it. It is an extension of the fanfiction that Cath writes in Fangirl, the novel by Rainbow Rowell. It is clear from Fangirl, and from the minute you start reading Carry On, that it is hugely based off Harry Potter. It is completely undeniable, and that definitely bugged me a bit to begin with. But, as the story continued, I started to fall in love with the characters, with Simon Snow, with Bas, with their chemistry and humour and romance. I also started to remember, hey, I love every damn thing that Rainbow Rowell writes! It was everything you expect from her writing, but funnier, sillier and more magical. Some of the spells made me literally laugh out loud they were so ludicrous – but that was definitely the point. The romance was excellent too – Rainbow is undeniably genius at writing flirtatious scenes, they almost made me squeal with happiness. My heart nearly burst out my chest when I read this:

“I let myself slip away… Just to stay sane. Just to get through it. And when I felt myself slipping too far, I held on to the one thing I’m always sure of – Blue eyes. Bronze curls. The fact that Simon Snow is the most powerful magician alive. That nothing can hurt him, not even me. That Simon Snow is alive. And I’m hopelessly in love with him.”

the-amber-shadows-9781471139284_hrThe Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester

four stars

Bletchley Park typist Honey Deschamps spends her days at a type-x machine in Hut 6, transcribing the decrypted signals from the German Army, doing her bit to help the British war effort.
Halfway across the world Hitler’s armies are marching into Leningrad, leaving a trail of destruction and pillaging the country’s most treasured artworks, including the famous Amber Room – the eighth wonder of the world.
As reports begin filtering through about the stolen amber loot, Honey receives a package, addressed to her, carried by a man she has never seen before. He claims his name is Felix Plaidstow and that he works in Hut 3. The package is postmarked from Russia, branded with two censors’ stamps. Inside is a small flat piece of amber, and it is just the first of several parcels.
Caught between fearing the packages are a trap set by the authorities to test her loyalty or a desperate cry for help, Honey turns to the handsome enigmatic Felix Plaidstow. But then her brother is found beaten to death in nearby woods and suddenly danger is all around… 

In true Lucy Ribchester style, this book had all the mystery and suspense of her debut novel The Hourglass Factory, with a little bit of romance and wartime setting added in. I really enjoyed this story – I am kind of obsessed with the World War 2 era, so it was great to read another tale about it. It was also interesting to read about enigma code and decrypting from another viewpoint! The suspense building was excellent and Honey as a protagonist was really easy to read and likeable. I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a bit of mystery and history! Four stars couldn’t be stretched to five unfortunately, as I found the story to lack factual credibility a little too often, as with Ribchester’s previous novel. But for what it was, it was certainly a good read!

9781442408920_custom-ab1ee04526644c3ae958cba37007c84d709a2fb1-s6-c30Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

This is a story about a boy who is angry and sad and confused and can’t ever figure out why. It is a story about a boy discovering who he really is. It is a story about a boy learning how to fall in love with the world for the very first time. I loved everything about this book. I had finished it within a few hours of starting it, without truly realising how beautiful it was, how warm it made me feel. Aristotle was so relatable to me when I think back to how I often felt as a teenager, and the way that Benjamin writes is just out of this world mellow, beautiful, touching and life-affirming. There isn’t really much of a plot to this story, but in a way this is what makes it so successful – it’s beauty is in the author’s ability to depict everyday events and unnoticed emotions and the catastrophic feelings of a seventeen year old boy. This book made me cry, and think, and feel at one with the world. This was a beautiful story about love, identity and family, and I think everyone should read it!

Book Review – We’ll Always Have Paris – Blog Tour!

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When she was almost seventeen, Rosie Draper locked eyes with a charismatic student called Peter during their first week at art college, changing the course of her life forever. Now, on the cusp of sixty-five and recently widowed, Rosie is slowly coming to terms with a new future. And after a chance encounter with Peter, forty-seven years later, they both begin to wonder ‘what if’…

Told with warmth, wit and humour, We’ll Always Have Paris is a charming, moving and uplifting novel about two people; the choices they make, the lives they lead and the love they share.

four stars

 

When I first got sent We’ll Always Have Paris, I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it. It is definitely not my usual read, but I found myself hooked almost immediately. The characters were surprisingly relatable, and the story they told was endearing and heartwarming.

We meet the protagonist, Rosie, at the start of the story, having recently lost her husband and trying to cope with her grief and still maintain family relationships and a small part of herself. She is an extremely likeable character, who teaches us that it is never too late to realise your dreams. Through Rosie you are given an incredibly touching and truthful emotional insight into how someone copes with the loss of their loved one, and how hard, but possible, it is to fight their way through the darkness and come out the other side.

Rosie’s two daughters are also great additions to the novel; their perspectives add a second side to the grief – having lost their father, and trying to help their mother through times that they must be finding extremely difficult themselves.

Sue Watson is brilliant at writing about family dynamics – she depicts relationships between people and the emotions that they feel with incredible authenticity and sensitivity. This story includes both the bad and the good of real life, told with humour and warmth and an easy, flowing writing style that sucks you in from the first page.

I loved the hope that was prevalent throughout – the idea that we are never too old to follow our dreams, or our hearts. The romance in the book was extremely well written, and the chemistry between Rosie and her first love, Peter, is sweet, uplifting and earnest. I feel that Watson truly writes from the heart, making her novel relatable and a joy to read.

We’ll Always Have Paris is a wonderfully profound story about the loss of love, dealing with grief, family relationships, and rediscovering first love. Most prominently, it is about the importance of learning from your experiences, and the appreciation of hindsight. Through Rosie’s story, we are shown that courage is essential to living through pain, and learning to love again. Sue Watson writes with wit, warmth and a poignant understanding of human relationships and the ability that hope has to heal the heart.

We’ll Always Have Paris is out in March next year! You can pre-order it on Amazon, here.

Follow the rest of the blog tour below… Next stop, Escapades of a Bookworm!

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#ReadWithoutPrejudice

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Recently, publisher Hodder & Stoughton distributed a book with no title, no cover and no author, to reviewers and publishing folk alike. The only words on the cover of the book: #ReadWithoutPrejudice. This was an incredible marketing campaign for many reasons, the most important one being that the entire message reflected that of the story inside. This book was written by an author that I have never read before, and now that I’ve finished it, I’m so glad that I was saved the preconceptions of knowing.

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Ruth Jefferson is a labour and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine check-up on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candour, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn’t offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game. 

29391645‘It just goes to show you: every baby is born beautiful. It’s what we project on them that makes them ugly.’

This story is about so, so much. You may think you are accepting and open-minded. You may also think that you are not racist; you might think you understand white privilege and prejudice that rears its ugly head in many forms. But in Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult teaches us that there is so much more to it than we realised.

In the biggest literary risk she has ever taken, Picoult has successfully tackled an extremely sensitive and relevant topic, and has executed it beautifully. I finished this book questioning many things, specifically the way that I think about history and the way that I think about race. To understand another fully, you have to put yourself in their shoes. Jodi Picoult places us in Ruth’s shoes so brilliantly, I failed not to be touched by her life and her experiences. She was an incredible character, and I felt every heartbreak, disappointment and injustice through Picoult’s vivid and clever writing. It is a whole week since I closed the book, but I still cannot get our protagonists story out of my head.

Small Great Things was a remarkably powerful read, but hard going at times. I found it difficult to read the chapters from Turk Bauer’s point of view, but I believe this was entirely the point. Picoult has really done her research, and the novel, as a consequence, rang shockingly true and heart-breaking. She wants you to be uncomfortable; she wants you to question the blasé way racial profiling is brushed off by the courts, and she wants you to understand the way that it truly feels to be judged by the colour of your skin, rather than your talent or accomplishments. Matters such as white privilege, white supremacy, generalised racism, and the often unmentionable effects of this kind of prejudice are brought to light in a realistic, raw and cleverly crafted way.

small great things 2Reading this book was an incredible experience in itself – my heart was in my mouth most of the time. The story was insightful, brutally true, heart-breaking, and unjust, and uncovers the unfair and often invisible plight of many. Jodi Picoult has successfully brought to light the cause and effect behind racial profiling and the huge difference between equality and impartiality. The authenticity was outstanding and this truthful tale has left me with an entirely more informed and opened mind. This story teaches an extremely relevant lesson to never judge a book by its cover, in every sense – a mantra we should remember in the way we treat others every single day.

 

Mini Review – milk and honey by Rupi Kaur

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milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose.

Rupi Kaur has achieved a mean feat with this book – it is the first and only book of poetry I have read from start to finish. It captivated me. It was effortless, unapologetic, strong, feminist and empowering.

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It is extremely difficult to try and review this book because every single poem is so personal, and tender, and significant in its own unique way. If you only read one book of poetry in your entire life, I urge you to read this one. It is such a sad, amazing and heartbreaking little book. It touches on all aspects and potential experiences of womanhood, through the form of a break-up – abuse, femininity, inner strength, insecurity, love, and grief.

‘You have sadness living in places sadness shouldn’t live.’

Rupi Kaur’s words are written for her – this is obvious in every line, every utterance, every chapter of the book, as her poetry develops and grows and heals and remembers. But it also manages to make you feel something powerful yourself – her stories are amazingly relateable, and her poetry is addictive, thought-provoking, and very, very personal.

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Book Review – One by Sarah Crossan

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One

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Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body.

Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy.

But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn’t want to admit it. Not even to Tippi.

How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?

One is a beautiful story about 16-year-old conjoined twins, Grace and Tippi, that really got me to thinking about a way of life completely different to anything I am used to. It is a story that reveals what it means to have a soul mate – albeit not in the traditional sense of the word. The entire novel is written in beautiful, flowing verse that had me in tears and it will remain one of the most poignant stories that I have read this year.

Tippi and Grace have been by each other’s side since birth. They are conjoined from the waist down, and have lived their entire lives sharing every single moment. Having always been home-schooled, they now must attend the local private high school as juniors and face the possibility this brings of staring, disgust, ridicule and judgement.

However, they grow to enjoy normal school life more than they expected, and even make some friends. They smoke, they drink, they go on a road trip – they experience the normal teenage life they have never had the freedom to live before. The normal complications of love, boys, privacy, family drama and angst are discovered through a totally new perspective. When Grace’s health worsens and becomes life-threatening, the twins have to decide whether they wish to be separated for the first time in their lives – the outcome of which will bring a series of devastating physical, emotional and psychological impacts.

I have never read a YA book like this – it was incredibly life-affirming and powerful. I felt that it was extremely clever for Sarah Crossan to write the twin’s tale in verse, because she showed that a story can be deeply moving and hard-hitting, with just a few words. The use of verse also made the novel incredibly easy and free-flowing to read – I finished it in one sitting; in a matter of hours and I found that the words just swept you up completely in their stark, simple poetry. This way of writing created a distinctive and magically profound voice that I feel would have been impossible to replicate with normal prose.

I also found it interesting that the author chose to pen the story through only Grace’s perspective, rather than both the twins. Tippi tended to control all situations and decisions so it was effective to read the story from the shyer and less-dominant twin’s viewpoint.

In summary, Crossan has achieved a powerful, heartfelt, and deeply moving novel that explores the true meaning of the word sisters. The enormous amount of research into conjoined twins was apparent and it read as factually accurate, but also emotionally hard-hitting. It was amazing to read something that perhaps I wouldn’t normally pick up. It is the first time I have read a novel written in verse, and I am glad to say it worked perfectly. I think the writing structure contributed greatly to the meaning and significance of the story. Grace and Tippi’s is an emotionally deep tale that is all at once lovely, shocking and utterly heartbreaking.

One is like nothing I have ever read before, and is a unique and poignant exploration of friendship, sisterhood, strength, soul-mates and love.

Book Review – The Long, Hot Summer by Kathleen MacMahon

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The Long, Hot SummerNine Lives. Four Generations. One Family. The MacEntees are no ordinary family.
Determined to be different from other people, they have carved out a place for themselves in Irish life by the sheer force of their personalities. But when a series of misfortunes befall them over the course of one long hot summer, even the MacEntees will struggle to make sense of who they are.
As media storms rage about them and secrets rise to the surface, Deirdre plans a family party for her 80th birthday-and with it one final, shocking surprise. 

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‘Relationships between men and women are about power. It’s all about the balance of power, and if you can’t get that right, then it’s a fight to the death.’

The Long, Hot Summer is an insightful, poignant and funny novel about the intricacies of real life. It covers everything from abortion, to adult relationships, mother-daughter complexities, theft, to politics, childhood, and how our experiences truly do shape us.

I loved MacMahon’s writing style – it is easy flowing and swallows you up whole. She has a real talent for writing descriptive prose, and it was so enjoyable to read, that I found I could not stop reading it. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about the characters, and their lives, and their individual stories. The author has a great ability to humanise even the coldest, and most unfeeling characters; I wanted to sit down and interview each of them!

The novel as a whole was incredibly insightful; MacMahon’s perceptions of the everyday are funny, poignant and sometimes, cynical. Each character experienced some sadness, and MacMahon’s interpretation of their experiences invoked a strong feeling of loneliness, yet there were other moments that were surprisingly life-affirming. I felt that she added unexpected insights into extremely normal topics, such as marriage, families, politics, etc. that I hadn’t really thought of before. I particularly loved that the strongest characters are revealed to be the most vulnerable.

The characterisations are great, and although none of them are really likeable, you find yourself warming to them. I loved Alma and Mick particularly – their stubbornness, but also their small, unspoken weaknesses that made them so real. The tragedy that strikes Alma changes her immensely and it was so intriguing to see how her character develops through this. Mick’s storyline was also great, and very, very funny – his mild kleptomania with the crippling consequences, and the fact that he is constantly compared to his brother, was amusing and revealing. I felt that perhaps he was the kindest character, and I liked him the most.

All the characters felt real, in some way, to me. They were very relatable in many different ways and had very humanistic flaws and weaknesses. There was no perfect protagonist, and I think this was why the story worked so exceptionally well. The novel split itself between the family, going from one point of view to another. I loved the structure of the story, written around all the different characters in the same family, all extremely unique, all on very different journeys, but somehow all also meeting up at one important moment in their lives.

I felt that this novel had great depth; it is a strong tale that weaves together the individual stories of many. It was compelling, moving, insightful and funny. The incredible character-based narratives are told with wit, and astute observation, and MacMahon has a great talent for putting normal relationships under the microscope and making warm, funny, and very, very truthful observations. The Long, Hot Summer is the perfect read for fans of family sagas, and Irish writers such as Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy.

Thank you to Little, Brown for the opportunity to review this title!

Book Review – Always With Love by Giovanna Fletcher

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ALways with love

four stars

Sophie’s got used to being the girlfriend of Billy Buskin, the biggest movie star in the world. Sort of.

But when she and Billy take a trip to visit his family in Los Angeles, she quickly discovers she’s totally unprepared for the chaos of Hollywood, the paparazzi and Billy’s controlling mother. And when Billy extends his stay in LA, leaving Sophie to fly home to Rosefont Hill alone, it seems there’s more than just miles between them.

Now Sophie must decide if they can overcome their differences for good. Because not every love story lasts the distance . . .

I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley. Thanks to Penguin and Michael Joseph for allowing me to review this title!

Always With Love is Giovanna Fletcher’s fourth novel, and like all her others, it was heartwarming, light and lovely. It was delightful to hear more about Sophie and Billy, but I believe it would have been just as good a read even if I hadn’t read her first book, Billy and Me.

Sophie is a great protagonist, with real life vulnerabilities and worries, and this really helps the reader to relate to her. I love the fact that she is so down to earth, and that she helps Billy to stay grounded. The contrasts between his life in LA and her life in the picturesque and homely Rosefont Hill, was a wonderful addition to the story, and I was never quite sure whether he would choose to lose himself to that lifestyle, or return home to Sophie. The conflict and questions that this created was what kept me reading to the end. I found myself really rooting for their relationship from the very beginning! At one point, I wasn’t sure if they would make it, and Giovanna cleverly keeps up this guessing game until the last chapter.

My favourite aspect of the story was Rosefont Hill. The imagery was idyllic and the setting just perfect – I would love to live in a village like this. Reading about Sophie’s life in Rosefont Hill, and her contentment to settle for a humble and un-glamourous living was so relatable for me; I really warmed to her, much more so than in the first book. I feel like her characterisation was well thought out and she developed into a more independent woman as the story progressed. Her situation of struggling in a long-distance relationship struck a chord with me and I feel that Giovanna was extremely successful in portraying the realistic ups and downs of this kind of relationship.

The only thing that brought this book down to four stars, for me, was the awful cliché that men and woman can’t be just friends. I didn’t understand what this added to the story. It was unneeded and the book would have been so much better without it. I felt that it was added in superficially to make it more interesting, but it didn’t really work. Luckily, it didn’t really take up too much of the plot and I was still able to really appreciate the novel as a whole.

Giovanna injects pure warmth and love into her writing, you can literally feel it pouring out of the pages as you read. Her stories make you warm and fuzzy inside – especially the descriptions of Rosefont Hill with it’s gorgeous little tea shop and small-town lifestyle. Sophie’s romance with Billy is also super sweet and spine-tingling. He has definitely become one of my favourite fictional heart throbs!

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Always With Love. It was heartwarming, funny and sweet. It was a charming story about real life relationships, the struggles of love, and the very important fact that home really is where the heart is.

Book Review – Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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‘Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travellers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years.’

I was unsure about starting this, due to it receiving such mixed reviews; people seemed to either love it or hate it. Luckily, I absolutely loved it. It has to be the most beautiful book I have read this year.

Uprooted tells the tale of a clumsy, plain girl named Angieszka (pronounced Ag-Nyesh-Ka), who lives in a small village on the outskirts of a dark and dangerous wood. The village is protected by a wizard who goes by the name the Dragon. The Dragon lives in a tower close by and protects the village and surrounding areas from the evil, corrupted wood. Once every ten years, he comes to the village and picks one girl to live with him in his tower for ten years. Nobody knows what happens to them whilst they are there, but it ultimately changes them, and they often decide not to return to their families.

Agnieszka worries for her best friend, Kasia, who is the most beautiful girl in the village. Talented, clever and attractive, she has been trained her whole life to expect this moment. She is expected by everyone in the village to be chosen next by the Dragon. Everybody is therefore astonished when clumsy, plain Agnieszka is picked instead.

‘You intolerable lunatic,’ he snarled at me, and then he caught my face between his hands and kissed me.’

Agnieszka is an incredible protagonist – relatable, funny, good natured, kind and strong. Her relationship with the Dragon; their disagreements, stubborn compromises and the journey they travel together are what make this story so special. Their gradual development into something more than friends is very slow going, but in a good way. Novik writes excellent love scenes that literally take your breath away. Their feelings for one another were portrayed subtly, understatedly, yet perfectly seductive, proving just how a good the writing is.

The writing style is magical. The main aspect of the story obviously being, well, magic, I was delighted to find that the prose reflected that in its entirety – it was whimsical, lyrical, unique, and the imagery created was absolutely beautiful.

‘There was a song in this forest, too, but it was a savage song, whispering of madness and tearing and rage.’

The Wood is fantastically nightmarish and creepy, and it plays its part well as the villain of the story. It stands as an ever-present, silent threat, occasionally swallowing villagers, driving people mad, or sending terrible monsters to destroy neighbouring villages. I don’t want to go into this too much as I don’t want to spoil anything. But, this book is so, so worth reading if you love fantasy, fairy tales and stories about magic.

I love fantasy that is based on folklore, and Novik cleverly roots her novel in the mythology of Eastern Europe; the story feels ancient and enticing. Just like reading an old fairy tale, this novel effortlessly recreates the familiar magic of all my childhood favourites – I felt wonderfully at home whilst reading this. You get the magic, the monsters, the wizards and the princes, but never in the way you might quite expect. Novik goes against all expectations, and nothing is as it seems.

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Book Review – The One We Fell in Love With

~ fionareads ~ 2 Comments

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Phoebe is caught between a rock and a hard place. Settle down and get married, or return to the French Alps to pursue her passion?

Eliza is in love with someone who is no longer hers. In fact, he probably never was… And her dream of becoming a musician seems to be spiralling down the drain.

Rose is out of a job and out of a boyfriend. To make matters worse, she’s been forced to move back in with her mother…

But these very different girls have one thing in common. Angus. The one they fell in love with…

I am a huge Paige Toon fan, and have been ever since reading her first release, Lucy in the Sky, back in 2007. Her books are often heart-warming, tear-jerking and poignant, and full of lovable and relatable characters. The One We Fell in Love With is no different – it might just be her best book yet.

Gosh, this book was just lovely, lovely, lovely. The story was addictive and easy to read, and I devoured it in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down for anything – I stayed in the same armchair all day, my eyes glued to the pages!

The story arc was perfectly choreographed. In my eyes, it was the most original novel Paige has written so far. It was so intriguing to read about triplets, and I was fascinated from the very first page. It was the first time that Paige has written from multiple viewpoints, and it worked amazingly. Each triplet had very unique personalities and their individual characterisation was extremely well distinguished.

I felt fully invested in the characters – especially Rose. I related to her so much. She is smart, sensible and wary and so much like me, I loved reading about her! Eliza and Phoebe were great too and the way their relationship dynamics were portrayed was clever and thought-provoking.

As usual, some of our favourite Paige Toon characters made an appearance, and it was lovely to have the inclusion of Lucy and Nathan in the end scene! Lucy in the Sky has always been my favourite – and Paige’s scene setting of Australia is always spot-on. She makes you long for the beautiful beaches and balmy weather. I also loved the descriptions of the French Alps and especially Jennifer’s Bakery that Rose works in – Paige never fails in her ability to vividly depict a scene!

This book had me thinking long after I’d turned the last page. I felt it was more emotionally mature than her previous novels, and I loved the family values that are built up and become prominent in the end chapter. The events throughout were emotional, and provoked many tears! I feel that Rose, Eliza and Phoebe’s lives were illustrated perfectly through Paige’s genius writing lens.

The One We Fell in Love With was heart-warming, uplifting, bittersweet, but charmingly happy too. I finished the book, and closed my eyes, just savouring that precious feeling you get after spending several hours lost in the midst of a story. Warmth spread through me as I read it – it was a beautiful story about subtle tragedy, love, and the strength of family.

Book Review – A Court of Mist and Fury

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‘The power did not belong to the High Lords. Not any longer. It belonged to me – as I belonged only to me, as my future was mine to decide, to forge.’

It’s taken me a few days to think of the right words to describe this book. This enthralling, exciting, enraging and unexpected book with wonderfully authentic character development.

Firstly, I just want to say that a Court of Mist and Fury is SO MUCH BETTER than it’s predecessor. Mostly because Feyre’s characterisation is so outstanding, but also because the story is no longer just about love.

This novel is about self-discovery. It is about Feyre discovering who she is and what she wants. It is about the intrinsic ability that your experiences and adventures have to heal your heart. Through her adventures, she learns to embrace past pain, and learns to become a new, stronger person. She is not the stagnant character that so many similar lovesick heroines are. This time around, her characterisation is stunningly crafted. It makes the first book pale in comparison – it is worth reading if only to get to this stunning sequel.

In a Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre becomes more of the feminist heroine that I love to read. She grows up and realises that she is becoming a different person. And how could she not? I am so happy that Maas stayed true to Feyre’s character. How could she have gone through the events of the previous book and not have changed? And more importantly, how could she ever had stayed in love with Tamlin after the way he treated her? She might have needed him in the first book, when she was indeed a much weaker character who craved any kind of protection he could offer her. But at the beginning of the story, whilst trying to deal with what transpired Under the Mountain, she is emotionally unstable. Rather than helping her to heal, Tamlin ignores her pain like she is a silly little girl who will get over it eventually.

I hated Tamlin almost immediately at the start, which is a surprise since I had liked him in the first book, although his flaws never enabled me to love him. He was too weak, too controlling, and too much of a damn coward all the way through a Court of Thorns and Roses. This only gets worse in the sequel – Tamlin suffocates Feyre. Worse, he ignores her emotional wellbeing like it is something she is just going to snap out of. After reading this, and getting to know Rhysand and all the intricacies of his character, it makes me feel slightly sick to think that I ever liked Tamlin’s character. His and Feyre’s relationship dynamic was extremely shallow, weak and reminded me way too much of Twilight.

I absolutely adore Rhysand’s character. Oh my God, he’s so starry and dark and GLORIOUS. He lets Feyre be who she is meant to be. He sees value in strong women. He never once tries to stifle Feyre’s strength. Rhysand does everything in his power to help her, to heal her, to be her equal, most of which she is oblivious to until close to the end of the book. He keeps the truth of his feelings from her purely so she would be free to make up her own mind; decide the fate of her own heart. Most importantly, Rhysand never ever dismisses Feyre’s emotions to be unimportant.

Can we all just take a minute to appreciate that he made her a High Lady of the Night Court? Equality. That is what I love about Feyre and Rhysand’s relationship. He makes her his equal. He doesn’t lock her away like a delicate doll.

I feel like this stark contrast between the two male characters, and the substantiality of Rhysand’s characterisation when compared to Tamlin’s, is very deliberate. Throughout the entire first book we are never given even a tiny bit as much character building and background to Tamlin as we are for Rhysand. Overall, he is written so much more carefully, solidly and truthfully. You get to know him almost as much as you know Feyre. You learn his fears, his loves, his pain, and you feel them too. In comparison, Tamlin is completely two-dimensional.

Yes Rhysand is out-of-this-world starry, dark, strong, fearless and dangerous, but he is also incredibly selfless, thoughtful and… soft. Not only towards Feyre, but towards everyone he cares for. He sacrifices his entire reputation for his court. He values LOVE above all else, which is intrinsically feminist in my mind.

The slow-building, flirtatious sex that oozes through the book is so much better than the attempted (but not quite there) lust of the first one. It makes your heart stop a beat, your stomach erupt into butterflies, and your mouth drop open. It is cleverly interlaced into the plot, and Maas has learnt to make it more subtle than the shallow and unbelievable desire of the first book.

The romance is perfect because the story no longer revolves purely around it. It is built up by the events that transpire, and develops authentically as Feyre and Rhysand struggle through their own battles, together. It adds an extra dynamic to the story, but overall, they fall in love around everything else that is going on. Perhaps due to everything that is going on. They are common ground. They are one another. There is beautiful, solid substance to their feelings for one another, and you believe it totally.

The new characters are also amazing. They add depth to the story in a way that I don’t feel Lucian, as a secondary character, ever did. They are all extremely memorable and Maas definitely didn’t scrounge on their personal histories, making sure they were extremely interesting in their own right.

Her world-building is another aspect of the story that had me going weak at the knees. As you see the world through Feyre’s eyes, as she discovers her own power, her own importance, and her own place in the world now that Tamlin is no longer locking her away. The imagery of the Night Court and the hidden city within it is so spectacular, and definitely my favourite out of all the Faerie realms. The story arc surrounding Rhysand’s deep love for the court and his desperation to keep it from Amarantha’s destruction is clever, and unexpected. The twist that reveals him as Feyre’s mate is even better, and I loved his retelling of the events of the first book so much that I’ve read them over and over again!

To summarise, I feel that a Court of Mist and Fury was fantastical, seductive, enthralling, beautiful, heart-wrenching and empowering. I devoured it in one sitting, and I can forgive Sarah J Maas for the weak, male-dominated story that made up the first book, if only because it enabled this!