10.11.26
As you'd expect from an Ali Hazelwood book called Mate, this was almost entirely about sex. She did make a valiant effort to give it a plot but in the end that, too, was entirely about sex and not all that interesting. And despite being constantly told that the women are strong and feisty and independent, they are all uncomfortably dependent on their controlling men to protect them. It's a shame because I liked the first in the series, Bride.
This was distractingly badly written, joining words missing from sentences. Dropped pronouns, present participles messy. Not to mention a plot that somehow managed to be both predictable and confusing, and all the characters too unsympathetic to care about. I only finished it because I was going to South Africa, where some of it was set, but it wasn't particularly enlightening even about that.
54%
02.11.26
This was very silly but notable for its refreshingly positive depiction of female friendships.
28.10.26
This got mediocre reviews but, as usual, I'm swimming against the tide here (ha!) as I really enjoyed it, maybe because I'm the same age as the protagonist(s) and appreciated the nuances, humour and pathos of characters who are desperately grasping the life raft of nostalgia. As for the criticism that nothing happens, the characters' engaging internal lives keep the fascinating story afloat.
68%
25.10.26I'd not read anything by the popular and prolific AT before because I'm not into star-wars-sci-fi epics. But talking-animal-sci-fi-crime-noir? Sign me up! And it mostly delivered - with strong worldbuilding, characterisation and intellectual depth, and the best line-level writing I've savoured for a very long time (he even almost makes the trend of missing out the first word of sentences work. Almost makes it work.). It is a little too set-piece-episodic, and the word 'honestly' pops up on nearly every page - so could have done with a little more editing - but in general this was hugely enjoyable.
17.10.26
How many authors does it take to write a mediocre novel? (Further evidence here.) This depended too much on exuberance and not enough on good writing, engaging pacing and strong worldbuilding.
Writing: among many other poor techniques, using 'the other girl' or 'the older woman' instead of the character's name or pronouns is almost as annoying as apparently every contemporary novel using the non-word 'atop' instead of 'on'.
Pacing: it was kind of boring - too much ladying and not enough knighting.
Worldbuilding: the setting and characters were so American that the biggest twist of the story was a mention of Kent and 'Londonne' towards the end.
58%
13.10.26This was less psychological thriller and more improbable farce but that made it a fun, unpredictable, easy read (although it did take mental health issues and the aftermath of violence a little too lightly).
10.10.26
I read this over a lazy Saturday - evidently I was in the mood for a time-travel police procedural (and who isn't?). As with the first in the series, it doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it too hard, the person who's shaping up to be a baddie is the most interesting character and 'whodunnit' could not have been guessed, but it's still lots of fun (and the author clearly loves cats).
09.10.26
Despite TJR being very, very keen to show off her extensive research at the expense of pace, despite the boringly self-righteous main character, despite the sometimes overwhelming sentimentality, even despite no-one from her previous Celebrityverse books wandering into scenes as they usually do... I really enjoyed this.
55%
04.10.26While schlockily confirming my view that tattoos are a bad idea, this was oddly paced, with a confusing ending that explained little and left many of the storylines un-inked.
48%
27.09.26What I said about King's Writers and Lovers? That. Exactly that. Same story, same protagonist, same unrelenting pretentiousness and sense of inconsequence, with everybody hiding behind literature to avoid actual emotions. (They did that in the Pym I've just read too. It's not a trope to get the reader onside.)
This is the second book from the 2026 Women's Prize shortlist that I've read and the second book I thought was a bit rubbish. Does that say more about me or the judges?
26.09.26
Pym's debut novel is really a pilot for her more successful later ones. Dated and staid as it is, there are glimpses of Pym's wicked humour and sharp characterisation.
39%
21.09.26The only thing I liked about this book were the local references. Otherwise, what I said about previous books in the series (Cromer and Fakenham) remains true - too many pointless characters, too much pointless exposition and relentlessly boring writing stops the story in its tracks (ha!).
54%
17.09.26I mean, this was fine - an undemanding, wistfully positive, contemporary queer romance. The author clearly has never met any British people or knows anything about British universities (where you don't tend to have roommates or call yourself a freshman; at least she didn't try to set it in the UK) and the academics could have been STEM rather than art, and nothing much happened, but generally it was... fine.
10.09.26 / 12.09.26
Just as crazy and confused and surprisingly feminist as the first two in the series but just as much fun, especially the last book, which went off in all sorts of unexpected directions.
04.09.26 / 06.09.26
More dark fantasy fun, this one even more violent than usual. There was, however, just as much need for a proper proofread (e.g. using 'little' five times in one paragraph and the constant focus on a particularly 'masculine jawline') but Hignett's irrepressible heroines and wry humour mean she is one of the few authors for whom I can overlook her lack of editing.
01.09.26
If this story is anything to go by, cosy dystopia is as problematic a genre as it sounds. Or, detached from its setting, it's just a typical 'underdog heroes fight the villain' story. It was fine but I've read better 'what makes us human' novels.
39%
30.08.26As with the first in the series, a good idea, poorly executed. It's inexplicably well reviewed on Amazon so maybe other people don't care about the poor quality of writing and lack of editing and proofreading (so, many, comma, splices) that make it a confusing, hard-to-read mess. It reinforces all my assumptions about self-published fiction but gets points for being about Magical Norwich.
28.08.26
The wry observational characterisation almost made it not matter that there wasn't much plot or that the characters would be mostly unbearable if they were real. What did matter was the lack of believability, whether that was fact checking (I'm starting to wonder whether New York time actually is ahead of Europe, it comes up so often) and the weirdnesses placed only to help the story along (why would you make your young adult, who has just graduated high school, take Spanish lessons on vacation?). Not as insightful as it's no doubt supposed to be.
