Soooo I forgot to mention what I read over the last few months so I thought I would compile them into one blog. Enjoy!
First up we have…
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, as night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Brittany, beginning a complex ménage á quatre.
But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.
Oh my gosh, I was addicted to this book. Much the same as Normal People the characters suck you in and make you feel every emotion.
Star rating: 5/5
Recommend: YES!
Next it was…
The Eve Illusion by Tom and Giovanna Fletcher
Eve is the last girl on earth.
For the last sixteen years, Eve has been a prisoner. Guarded by the Mothers. Trapped by her fate. Watched by the world.
Until she took her chance, and escaped.
Eve finally has the freedom she has wanted for so long, and with Bram she has the love. But both come at a price. In this dangerous new world beyond the Tower, the regime are only ever one step behind. And together with the desperate rebel group fighting against them, Eve has found herself in more danger than she ever could have imagined.
With everything stacked against them, can Eve and Bram survive?
Anyone who knows me knows that Giovanna Fletcher is my favourite author. I really loved the first instalment of this series and this second one really didn’t let me down.
It’s from the perspective of the three main characters Eve, Bram and Michael.
Tom and Gi manage to put you into the lives of these three and get you fully immersed into the world after Eve.
Read my full review here
Star rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes, read both and get excited for the third one.
Next up was…
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation and perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
This was a reread for me. No matter how many times I read the book or watch the film (which is one of the best adaptations in my opinion) I will cry every single time.
It’s beautiful, heartbreaking and breathtaking – if you haven’t read it yet, go go go!
I will be reading the other two in the series soon so will update you about it asap!
Star rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: Yes.
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes was next,
Lisa Edwards
This Prada-wearing magazine editor thinks her life is over when her “fabulous” new job turns out to be a deportation to Dublin to launch Colleen magazine. The only saving grace is that her friends aren’t there to witness her downward spiral. Might her new boss, the disheveled and moody Jack Devine, save her from a fate worse than hell?
Ashling Kennedy
Ashling, Colleen’s assistant editor, is an award-winning worrier, increasingly aware that something fundamental is missing from her life — apart from a boyfriend and a waistline.
Clodagh “Princess” Kelly
Ashling’s best friend, Clodagh, lives the domestic dream in a suburban castle. So why, lately, has she had the recurring urge to kiss a frog — or sleep with a frog, if truth be told?
As these three women search for love, success, and happiness, they will discover that if you let things simmer under the surface for too long, sooner or later they’ll boil over.
I reaaaaaalllllyyyyy did not like this book. I didn’t like the characters and even though it’s only 20 years old the WHOLE thing felt dated.
Star rating: 0.5/5
Recommend: I would not.
Saturdays at Noon by Rachel Marks
Emily just wants to keep the world away.
She doesn’t want anyone to know all the ways her life is messed up.
Going to anger management every Saturday, talking to strangers, was not part of the plan.
Jake just wants to keep his family together.
He’s also messed everything up.
Going to anger management is now his best hope for bonding with his six-year-old Alfie.
Emily can’t understand why Jake – who seems to have it all – is even there.
Jake can’t understand why Alfie – who never likes strangers – lights up around spikey Emily.
Everything they think about each other is about to change.
But can they change how they feel about themselves?
Oh my goodness I LOVED this book, it was kindly sent to me by my cousin after she read it and thought it was right up my street. And it did not disappoint it was brilliant.
Star rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: I would recommend.
Next we have…
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
Eileen is sick of being 79.
Leena’s tired of life in her twenties.
Maybe it’s time they swapped places…
When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She’d like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen.
Once Leena learns of Eileen’s romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.
Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn’t as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?
After how much I loved The Flatshare I was very excited to read The Switch. I enjoyed the story quite a lot, however I preferred Leena’s sections to Eileen’s, mainly because there was quite a lot of 79 year old sex that I was not expecting and I’m apparently quite a prude… Other than that I enjoyed it.
Star rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: I would recommend especially if you enjoyed Flatshare
And finally we have
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.
Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
It took me about 50/60 pages to get into this book but after that I was hooked, I didn’t want to put it down. It was a heartbreakingly beautiful novel of abandonment, and is a gentle yet symbolic portrayal of the survival of Kya Clark, a reclusive young girl who was abandoned by her parents and siblings at an incredibly young age and disregarded by the townspeople as if she was a monster.
It seems that the book is ‘marmite’, so you’ll either love it or hate it…
Star rating: 4/5
Recommend: Yes, if you haven’t already done so, read it!
And that is it! I will *try* and update you after each month so it’s not quite as long next time!
Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what your thoughts are on them!
Lucy xox
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