Romance

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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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 – 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!

Vintage Charm… The Miniaturist, The Confectioner’s Tale and The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp

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I don’t believe there is any greater joy in the world than reading a book that makes you feel like you have stepped back in time. I love being swept up into the pages of a book that spills with authentic and imaginative vintage charm. The following books all depict different time periods, but they will always be my must-read texts when I want to escape to a world now gone by.

the misinterpretation

The sort-of-sequel to The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (a book pushed upon me perhaps ten years ago by my mum, urging me to read it), The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp is a warm, nostalgic period novel set in the 1960’s. I don’t remember much of The Lost Art, except for the fact that I enjoyed it in the way that you enjoy a hot cup of tea and a couple of digestive biscuits. It warmed you from the inside, and you felt as though you were experiencing the events first hand, wishing desperately that you lived in that time period and were friends with these fantastic characters. In the Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp, Rice excels in her natural ability to set a scene both magically and realistically. The story starts in the rural West Country and follows Tara as she begins a singing career, moving to London, falling in love with a photographer, being shown off at Chelsea parties, even dancing on tables at the Marquee Club on the night of the Stones’ debut… Rice perfectly captures that feeling of being seventeen and having the whole world on your doorstep. She has a real gift for evoking a nostalgia-tinged rural childhood, the quaintness of the first and last county in England in the fifties, and the excitement and pure rock-n-roll lifestyle of London in the swinging sixties.

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This book is so spectacularly vivid and deliciously detailed. Romance laces every word in a way that makes your heart skip a beat, and the imagery just makes you want to run straight off to Paris, visit a Patisserie and eat every single beautiful creation described. The Confectioner’s Tale tells a love story of two kinds. Set at the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, but told eighty years later through the eyes of Padra Stevenson, researching a photograph she found of her grandfather, the words ‘Forgive me’ written on the back. Her discovery leads her to reveal a mysterious, bittersweet and evocative story about two star-crossed lovers. The writing is what makes this book so infinitely special. It is mouth-watering, literally. The romance of the Parisian setting makes your heart burst.

The Miniaturist

The Miniaturist is set in seventeenth century Amsterdam, and tells the story of eighteen year old Nella Oortman who, after an arranged marriage to an illustrious and mysterious merchant trader, comes to the bustling city to begin a new life. Her loneliness and desolation is what struck me hardest, as she is left in the home with her husband’s cold and enigmatic sister. Her life changes when her husband arrives home with a gift – a beautiful cabinet dolls house. She is offended, seeing it as a toy for a child, but resentfully orders custom-made pieces to fill it. Amongst the objects that arrive from the elusive Miniaturist are items such as a tiny scrap of marzipan that makes people sick to the soul, and the miniature betrothal cup that was missing from her wedding. More things begin to arrive for the cabinet house, eerily life-like, and ominously attuned to the things that happen under her roof. This story is all at once horrible, and lonely, but beautiful too. Perfectly polished and mysteriously compelling, The Miniaturist is definitely a tale that takes you out of your own era and right into the heart of a city of hidden opulence and devastating secrets…

Book Review – Dream a Little Dream…

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Dream a little dreamDream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher
Published: June 18th 2015 by Penguin
Genres: Women’s Fiction, ChickLit, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 400
Source: Goodreads

four stars

Sarah is doing just fine. Sure she’s been single for the last five years, and has to spend an uncomfortable amount of time around her ex-boyfriend, his perfect new girlfriend and all their mutual friends. And yes, her job as a PA to one of the most disgusting men in London is mind-numbingly tedious and her career is a constant disappointment to her mother. But it’s really okay. She’s happy (ish).

But it’s not surprising that when Sarah starts dreaming about a handsome stranger, she begins to look forward to falling asleep every night. Reality isn’t nearly as exciting. That is until her dream-stranger makes an unexpected real-life appearance, leaving Sarah questioning everything she thought she wanted. Because no one ever really finds the person of their dreams… do they?

I LOVED this book! I’ll start by saying that I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. Actually, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting it to be much at all. I really disliked Giovanna’s previous two books, so I was so pleasantly surprised by Dream a Little Dream!

The characters are likeable, relatable, and the whole story was charming, addictive and lovely. The writing style was slightly too long-winded and babbling than I usually enjoy, but it was of a better quality than I expected, and I found that it really didn’t bother me like I thought it would. My love for the protagonist, Sarah, and her story, kept me going and I was so disappointed when it ended. The only negative thing about good books is that they end, hey?

Sarah was a loveable and fantastic protagonist who I warmed to straight away – she was the kind of person I wanted to be friends with! She really grew in strength as the book progressed, and their was a great amount of depth to her character.

I adored the fact that Sarah’s dream man suddenly came into her life. I found myself rooting for her and Real Brett from the get-go! I completely fell in love with him and would love to read anything else Giovanna writes about them as a couple.

Book Review – Grey

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Books-Fifty Shades of Grey

Grey by E. L. James
Published: June 18th 2015 by Vintage
Genres: Romance, Erotica, Adult Fiction
Pages: 576
Source: Goodreads

two stars

In Christian’s own words, and through his thoughts, reflections, and dreams, E L James offers a fresh perspective on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the world.

Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty—until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him—past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.  

Will being with Ana dispel the horrors of his childhood that haunt Christian every night? Or will his dark sexual desires, his compulsion to control, and the self-loathing that fills his soul drive this girl away and destroy the fragile hope she offers him?

Now, I think we can all agree that as far as novels go, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is extremely poorly written, repetitive, and predictable. However, there is also something about it that has resulted in it being the fastest selling book of all time. (I know, I know, what the hell is wrong with the world?)

Aptly named ‘Mummy porn’ by many, the sex scenes, for a BDSM erotic novel, are extremely dull and don’t actually add anything whatsoever to the story. I think, like a lot of people, I read the books purely to see what all the fuss was about. It wasn’t the sex scenes that made it popular, it was the love story, and mainly, Christian Grey himself.

For some reason, a highly damaged and controlling man (think Edward Cullen et al) is what makes female readers in the dozens tick. I definitely admit that it was the intrigue and the attraction to Christian that kept me reading the trilogy till the end. I don’t always love re-tellings of the same story from a different point of view. But this is Christian Grey.

So, as I said, although I don’t believe the books were well written or original in the slightest, I looked forward to reading the story from Christian’s point of view, because, to me, he was the only character who made the love story slightly interesting. I also held onto some hope that this might add some missing depth to the tale.

The retelling was marginally better than the original, because it delved a little deeper and you got to read about what Christian was doing whilst he was away from Anna. You got to see his love for her developing in a way you didn’t get to in the first novel. You also found a little more out about his past and how it troubles him. The sex scenes were just as boring. They contributed slightly more to the story as you learnt more about how Christian felt about being touched, and you saw a more vulnerable side to him than in Anna’s telling.

I also thought that E. L. James’ writing had improved, if only slightly. It was less repetitive than the original, except for stating that Christian felt ‘ten feet tall’ every several pages. Strange really, because there a millions of other ways I can think of describing that feeling of being, say, on top of the world, even just off the top of my head. I was glad that the phrase ‘my sex’ was only written once, as it seemed to be the only way Anna could describe her vagina in the entire trilogy. It used to make me want to throw the book at the wall.

The Fifty Shades trilogy is an odd phenomena. It definitely earned it’s name of Mummy Porn as it’s entire fanbase seems to be made up of middle-aged women with bored sex lives who have fallen head over heels in love with Christian Grey. His lifestyle is obviously desirable, and I doubt the books would have been successful at all if they hadn’t been set in a multi million dollar penthouse suite in Seattle, with a hero who just wants to spend all his money on timid, undeserving, innocent Anna. Who obviously, is so humble that she won’t accept a single gift. Her life is changed forever through meeting Christian. Helicopter rides, a whole new designer wardrobe, a brand new car, and the chance to be the one woman who can actually fix the damaged man. A lot of women are extremely drawn into that fantasy. I can definitely understand the pull.

However, it is a shame because I feel that James could have used this chance to retell the story as a way of improving the Fifty Shades trilogy. Considering it was from Christian’s point of view, it could have gone much, much deeper than it did. She obviously just does not have the writing talent or ability to do that. I felt that most of the book was very lazily written, and almost identical to the original. Obviously it’s expected that the scenes shared between Christian and Anna would be the same, but it definitely had the potential to be more intricate and detailed than it was. I was naively expecting a much more thorough insight into Christian’s thoughts and emotions than we were given.

So overall, if you can appreciate the Fifty Shades trilogy for what it is: a mediocre, poorly written and repetitive franchise, then I imagine you will adore this novel. If however, you were expecting something far better than the original, or you hated the trilogy to begin with, then do not waste your time with this book.

Book Review – Love Notes For Freddie

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Love Notes For Freddie by Eva Rice
Published: June 4th 2015 by Heron Books
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 385
Source: Goodreads

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Marnie FitzPatrick is a reclusive sixth-former from Hertfordshire with a dysfunctional family, a penchant for Pythagoras’ Theorem and an addiction to doughnuts and gin. Julie Crewe is a disillusioned maths teacher who lives vicariously through the girls she teaches, yet who once danced barefoot through Central Park with a man called Jo she has never been able to forget.

This is the story of what happened in the summer of 1967, when the sun burned down on the roof of the Shredded Wheat factory, and a boy called Freddie Friday danced to the records he had stolen. This is about first love, and last love, and all the strange stuff in between. This is what happens when three people are bound together by something that can’t be calculated or explained by any equation.

I have read both The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets and The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp and absolutely fell in love with Eva Rice’s writing style. Her books are engaging, eccentric, fantastically vintage and spilling with original characters.

As expected, I adored Love Notes For Freddie. It was an engrossing, rich and heart-warming story about new love, the ghost of love, new dreams, and shattered dreams.

The chapters alternated between Marnie’s and Miss Crewe’s point of views. I loved the parallels between the two characters, and the fact that they both loved Freddie, but for different reasons, added an intriguing dynamic to the story. I was glad that we didn’t get to read Freddie’s point of view, as I feel he was essential only as a catalyst for Marnie’s and Miss Crewe’s personal development. Miss Crewe’s fascination with him particularly was magically progressive for the story, as you got to see into her past and how it shaped her into the person she is now.

Eva Rice has a unique narrative style that is gloriously detailed and almost filmic in its vivid description of emotions, people and places. She has the ability to write about a particular era with originality and authenticity, and she makes every moment of her novels feel entirely real. You fall head over heels in love with the characters she creates and are immediately drawn into the world that they live in.

I loved Marnie just as much as Tara and Penelope, but for different reasons. The author writes with an empathy that enables you to understand the character’s feelings and actions, and fill their shoes entirely, even if you do not agree with their decisions. I love how real the story felt. There are too many novels that end with ridiculously predictable endings, and happy endings for the sake of a happy ending, even if the story has to forsake its natural direction.

Eva Rice is not scared to write a story that does not end exactly the way the reader would like it to. Her stories are unpredictable, and this is an amazing thing. She writes books that you wish you could have written yourself. Love Notes For Freddie, I believe, teaches you to make the most of the present, and to not dwell on the past. The ending was important as it let you know that love, however heart-breaking and life-changing it might feel at the time, can end, and you can live past it; that sometimes, you have to let things go, in order for them to blossom.

I absolutely adored this book, just as much as the previous two novels, if not more. Love Notes For Freddie is fantastically vivid, heart-warming, rich and truthful. I loved every second of it, and the only thing I hated about it was that it ended. I can’t wait to see what Eva Rice will write next, because I know it will surpass all my expectations and be just as loveable and brilliantly written as this novel is.

Book Review – The Sun In Her Eyes

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the-sun-in-her-eyes-9781471138416_hrThe Sun In Her Eyes by Paige Toon
Published: May 21st 2015 by Simon & Schuster UK
Genres: ChickLit, Women’s Fiction, Romance
Pages: 385
Source: Goodreads

two stars

Blinding sunshine; A bend in the road; What became of the little girl with the sun in her eyes?


Amber was three when a car crash stole her mother’s life. She doesn’t remember the accident, but a stranger at the scene has been unable to forget. Now, almost thirty years later, she’s trying to track Amber down. Amber, meanwhile, is married to Ned and living on the other side of the world in London. When her father has a stroke, she flies straight home to Australia to be with him. Away from her husband, Amber finds comfort in her oldest friends, but her feelings for Ethan, the gorgeous, green-eyed man she once fell for, have never been platonic. As Ethan and Amber grow closer, married life in London feels far away. Then Amber receives a letter that changes everything. ‘Before your mother died, she asked me to tell you something…’

I have been a huge Paige Toon fan since her debut novel, Lucy In The Sky, was released. I have to admit, I very rarely read ChickLit at all, but Paige’s novels have always hit the spot for me. They are summery, perfectly written, with extremely likeable protagonists – the perfect beach read. The Johnny Jefferson stories (Johnny Be Good, Baby Be Mine, and Johnny’s Girl) have always been my ultimate favourites and are well worth a read.

So, like many other Paige Toon fans, I was ridiculously excited for The Sun In Her Eyes, and suffered the excruciating one year wait for this new release. I finished it within a matter of hours, but unfortunately, unlike her other books, this one just did not do it for me.

This novel seems completely different to Paige’s previous works. Firstly, the heroine, Amber, is extremely dislikeable from the offset – her behaviour is selfish and she never sees fault in her own actions, even though they are questionable. Her childhood crush, Ethan, who she reignites her love for and ends up having an affair with, was originally extremely likeable, even if Amber wasn’t. We then see him for who he truly is – a cheating, weak, for lack of another word, idiot – and I nearly threw the book at the wall!

It wasn’t even that I was infuriated – it was just that I was sick to death of how dull the book was. I was bored! The only reason I read till the end was that I was hoping that something more interesting was going to happen. I liked Amber’s husband, Ned. He was portrayed as genuine and sweet. All I kept thinking throughout was how bad Amber’s judgement was to betray her devoted, kind husband for a smarmy childhood friend who she hadn’t seen in years.

Amongst all of this, Amber receives a letter from the lady who pulled her out of the car crash that killed her mother when she was a child. Throughout the novel, expectation is deliberately built up as Doris writes that there is a secret that Amber’s mother told her in her dying moments. Her message ends up being something entirely understated and not at all dramatic, as the build-up had suggested. This is fair enough, and the memories that Amber remembers during their heart to heart are sweet, but they are nowhere near as heart-grabbing as I imagine Paige had intended them to be.

The ending of the book was not any better. The protagonist, Amber, seemed almost proud of her affair. She finds out that she is pregnant, and after an initial panic that the baby might be Ethan’s, it turns out it is Ned’s. According to Amber, this means she can now happily get back together with Ned, and live happily ever after, without even telling him about the affair.

It would have been a much more genuine ending if Amber had confessed to Ned and perhaps, within time, he slowly forgave her, or she got the result that she deserved. The whole situation seemed wrong to me, and due to how unlikeable Amber’s character was, I wasn’t exactly rooting for everything to work out for her.

It was great to hear from characters from previous novels, in true Paige Toon fashion. Josh, the son of Michael from Pictures of Lily, and also Zara, from Thirteen Weddings, were both mentioned. Oh, and Jorge and Leo from The Longest Holiday, too, which definitely made me smile.

As much as I love Paige’s previous novels, this one was just boring, unoriginal, and utterly unstimulating. I wouldn’t even give it another thought. The contrast between her debut novel, Lucy in the Sky, which I enjoyed so much that I have read perhaps five times, is shocking. I really hope this is just a lull in creativity for Paige, and that her next read will go more in the direction of her first few books.

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