08.06.26
This wasn't as tragic as some of Joyce's other books but it was still pretty dark. But it was frustrating, too. Beautifully written, of course, but it didn't finish where it should have done and I was hoping that karma would get the utterly unlikable and entitled adult siblings, too dependent on their manipulative father, and it sort of did, but then... it didn't. Because having siblings is apparently always preferable to not, even if they're horrible.
18.04.26
Many people say this is the best Heyer novel but it was pretty indistinguishable from the others - spirited heroine, noble hero, comedy supporting characters, unlikely coincidences. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
54%
14.01.26This is lit fic at its most self-referential, like the crop circles it describes - carefully crafted and ultimately meaning whatever you want it to.
07.12.25
Someone pointed out that all Riley Sager's books can be summarised as 'Young down-on-her-luck woman moves house, discovers neighbours' secrets, has secrets of her own.' This one definitely fits that mould, and is also pretty similar to Sarah Pinborough's supernatural domestic thrillers (like the one I've just read). Despite its cliches, this was still quite well written and pretty entertaining, if not all that engaging.
11.09.25
Subtle and many-layered as this book aimed to be, the stubborn and childish protagonist prevented any emotional connection and therefore it became just a long examination on all the different ways that families and the (Irish) Catholic church can fail you. And, this being lit fic, nothing much happened except random jumps to and from other times when nothing much happened.
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.
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.
04.06.25
I don't really understand the concept of a 'cosy' murder mystery - someone dying violently really isn't very cosy. But in this case, everyone hated the victim, so that apparently made it OK. It also seemed to be a given that readers would love the highly irritating main character so much that little time was spent on developing the supporting cast. It was entertaining enough but too light to be memorable.
This was well-intentioned to the point of being twee, despite trying to make some quite serious points about life choices and misogyny. The pacing was a little strange (why were they lost on a hill for so long?), and I'm not entirely sure that councils work the way they're portrayed here, but the plant lore was certainly thoroughly researched.
I thought this was going to be another 'magic school' book but in fact this isn't fantasy - or only in the 'unrealistic wish fulfilment' sense. It's basically a rehearsal for Barnes' later Inheritance Games series - not-so-ordinary girl is put in extraordinary situation, rather tedious boys fight over her, poor pacing and plot development ensues - it's still as fun to read.
This was quite sweet and earnest and it didn't actively annoy me. It was rather unrealistic, of course, and both main characters acted (or not) on assumptions with no evidence to back them up, with the 'baddie' not actually being convincingly bad, at least until he was ramped up at the end. As I read it on my Kindle, so didn't really see the cover, I thought it was written by a woman right up until the acknowledgements, but that probably says more about my assumptions than the story/writing style itself.
54%
10.06.23
I've never read (or seen) The Pursuit of Love, of which this is apparently a modern interpretation, so I might have appreciated this more if I had. But, taking it at face-value, it's a colourful and, at times, amusing, tale of a rather self-absorbed and entitled family living in a strange version of North Norfolk I'm not familiar with. Nobody was particularly interesting and the last page was literally a 'WTF?' moment that seemed abrupt and entirely pointless (although I expect the original book ended in a similar way). Nice cover, though.
29.04.23
Anne Tyler at her best is superlative. This was not her best, or even her middling. As a narrative covering the ebbs and flows of family dynamics over time, it worked fine, but the story and characters just weren't worth caring about. And enough of the pointless pandemic epilogues!
01.03.23
I can read all sorts of fantasy, but books about triplets set in the real world seem a bit too far-fetched to me. Indeed, it was hard to relate to the three main characters and, despite them supposedly having different personalities, I couldn't really tell them apart (so that was realistic, I suppose). As usual, I liked the insight into middle-class Australian life but there was nothing memorable here.
23.12.22
Some Moriarty novels are pretty good. Others are less so. This was, generally, less so - a lot of fuss about not very much.
23.08.22
I wouldn't recognise a designer handbag even if somebody hit me with one, but apparently they change hands for thousands of dollars. The story gained a certain nuance via the unreliable narrator(s), upending (some) stereotypes and considering what makes one thing 'fake' if it's exactly the same as something else, but in the end the story just wasn't particularly memorable. And what is it with these demon toddlers in recent books?
17.07.22
Apparently, there's a subgenre called 'rich people dramas' and this is a prime example. I don't mind reading about impossibly entitled people - I mean, isn't imagining other's experiences what novels are for? - but this was just very boring. I was ready to give up when Something Suddenly Happened... and then it went back to being boring. We Were Liars was indulgent and predictable but at least it wasn't dull.
14.06.22
I had breakfast with Chris Brookmyre once, at an editing conference. We had a very interesting conversation and then he went on to give the sweariest keynote speech ever, which, probably to his surprise, the editors loved. This book is neither as interesting nor as sweary, unfortunately - competent enough but with some unlikely coincidences and confusing plot points.
And points are lost, as ever, for the pandemic epilogue. Come on, authors/publishers! We've just had 400 pages of suspending our disbelief so you really don't need to shoehorn in some awkward references to lockdown at the end.
54%
I dreamed the correct ending to this halfway through, which makes it either a premonition or predictable. It's true that the (non-)plot depended on the character telling the story, and good unreliable narrators can make a book spark, but this one was so unlikable that I found myself siding with the employers she hated so much.
