07.09.25
An unexceptional queer romance with rather annoying protagonists who need to get over themselves. Never leaving town and/or taking 40 years to notice your privilege don't gain my empathy. I did like how they were a bit older than typical romantic leads, and that nearly everyone was LGBTQ+.
The problem with literary fiction is that the characters all feel very strongly about stuff without actually doing anything about it, and making bad decisions if they do. There were some nice turns of phrase but this was rather untethered, with an odd choice of emphasis ("Oh yeah, that computer game I spent 20 pages describing? It failed." "By the way, the main characters got married and had a baby two years ago, didn't I say?"). I'm all for a character-driven plot but I can't help thinking that they might as well be feeling very strongly about stuff in a fantasy world or a murder mystery, because at least then there's something tangible to focus on.
27.08.25
Hugely clichéd, hugely predictable and yet somehow hugely entertaining. I must like a folk horror that's leavened with humour - the light tone at times seemed to battle with the dark atmosphere but that's probably what made it so engaging, despite the uneven pacing.
(Interestingly, this very different but in some ways quite similar book is by the same author, particularly in terms of portraying the female experience.)
22.08.25
I was 15% of the way through and wondering when the plot was going to kick in before I realised this was non-fiction. Even having experienced my own version of what the author describes, it did nothing to change my mind about the point of memoirs beyond therapy for the writer. It was well written but, oh, the endless descriptions of bonding over food - yes, I get it.
54%
20.08.25This was well researched but I suspect the misogyny of the time was exaggerated for effect. It was hard to warm to the main character - or, indeed, any of the characters - and it was all a bit predictable, making the story rather lacklustre.
13.08.25
The only engaging and empathetic character in this mildly amusing but entirely plotless novel was New Zealand. I wanted less of the twentysomethings behaving like tiresome children and more of the secretly complex country.
06.08.25
I'm all for a story set in Norwich but there was too much time spent on (the admittedly intriguing) worldbuilding and not enough on plot, character development and continuity. There were, in fact, so many annoying continuity errors and unnecessary typos that I wondered if anyone, including the author, had actually read the book before (self)publishing it.
31.07.25
Bardugo is a fine writer. Her worldbuilding is vivid and her characters are complex. I enjoyed the first book in this series. So why was this one so boring? I had to force my way through it, in search of a real plot, anything that wasn't adolescent heartache and confusing economics. And then, of course, at the end, nothing was as it seemed. Except for the things that were.
29.07.25
I think this book works best if you read it ironically - as a satire with more than one unreliable narrator. Whether that was the author's intention is another matter, but it's dark and fun and gritty and silly and generally so full of contradictions that you just have to go with it.
64%
22.07.25
This was almost a murder-mystery-fantasy, such was the world-building of the life of a '90s junior doctor fighting addiction. Both very funny and profound (often at the same time), the detached tone worked well with the descriptions of an underfunded hospital and the unnamed narrator's weakening grasp on a rather dystopian reality. The end was a bit silly, though.
19.07.25
At first, the poor grammar made this really hard to follow, and then the confusing time-shifting plot and inconsistently drawn characters made it even harder. I still don't understand whodunnit or whytheydunnit or how someone who hadn't dunnit ended up in prison too. Nice cover, though.
14.07.25
This was a weird mix of genres, starting off as a family drama and abruptly changing to a police procedural halfway through. While the focus on family relationships, and the lasting effects of trauma, was refreshingly unusual for a murder mystery, it was still a lumpy and ultimately unsatisfying read.
52%
11.07.25Considering the author tells us in her afterword how much research she did, you'd think she'd have attempted to make the characters sound and act period appropriately, rather than being 21st-century Americans inexplicably stranded in Victorian London. Even if this was a deliberate choice, the constant Americanisms - as well as some stereotypes about mid-19th century British society that I doubt were quite true - kept taking me out of the otherwise fairly sweet and fun story.
09.07.25
Apparently, the author is a well-known screenwriter so you'd think the pacing would be better. It did read like a TV drama, but that's not necessarily what you want in a novel. And here was yet another 'cynical female detective approaching middle age while bringing up teenage son and dealing with iffy husband'. But it was fairly well written and the update to typical English village stock characters was refreshing.
57%
05.07.25This was prettily written and started out well but was ultimately disappointing. It didn't seem to know what it was about - a competition? An expedition? A romance? A fantasy adventure? All of those things but never settling on one, with an irritatingly open ending for the next book.
47%
29.06.25Pretty run-of-the-mill 'perils of fame' story, with uninteresting characters and the murderer obvious from their first appearance.
46%
27.06.25Was this really by the same author as Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow? I'd been looking for a light read but this was basically helium: sentimental slush, with improbable, two-dimensional characters, terrible pacing and constant metaphors about novels that weren't as cute or clever as they were evidently intended to be. I feel sticky and manipulated (but not enough to care enough to cry at the end, as I was clearly supposed to).
24.06.25
I want to describe this as a Regency romp, but it's set too late to be Regency and is too serious in places to be a romp. But it's a fun read with well-drawn characters, good world-building and no embarrassing attempts at realistic period dialogue. Yes, the identity of the villain quickly becomes obvious but it's an entertaining journey to their unveiling.
21.06.25
The author clearly wanted to write about her holiday in Antarctica but felt compelled to add a far-fetched murder mystery and a particularly annoying protagonist to make it interesting enough. Not cool.
17.06.25
The only memorable thing about this middling Heyer was its excellent use of The Tiffany Effect (even if it is a nickname for Theophania).
