Lucy

Very enjoyable American outing for the ROL series, I particularly liked the female MC
and the unique setting. I hope to see more of them!

Not my favourite Raksura book. A slow start, an exciting 3rd quarter but overall not the best.

An immersive experience. So stunningly well written.

A sad and horrifying story of a woman trapped by her past, unable to move on. Perfectly weighted and cleverly plotted.

Told by a mysterious narrator, this is the story of Robyn Hyde (Iris Wilkinson's) experiences in the war in China in the late 1930s, behind the Japanese lines. Peppered with flashbacks to her earlier life, full of tragedy and heartache but also a gutsy determination to write and be known.

An insightful and depressing read.

4.5 stars not because I loved it but because it's a freaking genius of a book.

I wanted to rate this really highly, for the first half of the book is easily a 4.5 star read. I enjoyed the writing of Benjamin and Helen Rask, the story of their lives and the financial explanations. The 3rd quarter, where Andrew and Ida spoke lost me and I didn't love Mildred's diaries. I found the second half mismatched and patchy, difficult to get into. 3.5 rounded down.

An utterly fascinating and moving memoir of life in the harshest of climates.

A slightly clinical book about a bird I've never seen and doesn't live in my country. No stories of personal connection with the birds as I like in natural history book, rather, an overview of the owl's life and death and how humans impact their survival. Enjoyable though.

A well balanced blend of adventure and urban fantasy with an incentive cast of characters, both good and bad. A great fun read.

I don't pretend to know much about the nuances of poetry but these poems were informative and intimate and made stark points about our world.

A short and sweet story of how we process grief. 3.5 rounded up for a happy ending.

If I could give this 10 stars I would.
Set 20 years after the first book, The Reindeer Hunters carries on the mystery of the sister bells from the first book, the Hekne family saga moves forward another generation and the Pastor matures in his faith. A truly magnificent and remarkable series so far.

A pulsating mystical, magical historical novel about a stave church, a pastor, an architect student and a young woman. Mytting brings a small, remote Norwegian village to life as a new pastor seeks to modernise the ancient church but a love triangle threatens his plans and everything the villagers hold dear. 4.5 stars.

I find it hard to review The Trouble with Happiness because it's so freaking depressing. Parents hate their kids, children resent the parents. Husbands cheat, women are pathetic. I suppose perhaps this is real life, but god, I don't want to read about it.

That being said, it is sharply written, evocative, quite beautiful and at points I even found myself empathising with the characters.

Don't read if you're at all depressed.

A thoroughly enjoyable collection of short stories inspecting the female gaze. On ourselves, other women and men too. A diverse range of view points, from young women and mothers to older women, the last story was my favourite.

A strange and beguiling short novel of two sisters with an unbreakable childhood bond. Superbly crafted.

Excellent world building and magic system, great action sequences but the writing felt stilted and with a couple of exceptions (Akane!) I didn't like the characters much.

My second Anne Tyler, a joy to read, the simple lives of simple people, a family story from the 1940s through to the pandemic. Relationships and marriages, love and family, nothing unique, just ordinary family life.

A mixed bag of decent and a bit silly and schmaltzy love stories between isolated teens in lockdown. Some like The Green Thumb War by Brittney Morris were charming and clever but others like Stuck With Her by Rachel Lippincott were just annoying. The Socially Distant Dog-Walking Brigade by Bill Konigsberg was my favourite.

A joyful collection of anecdotes, memories and laughs from Ephron's life. Light and lots of fun.

Ironically, I kind of feel like this book was largely pointless. And since the whole plot is based on people losing the will to live, maybe that was... the point. The first half was a solid 4 stars, dropping to 2.5 in the last 1/4 and if we compare all millennial novels to Sally Rooney then it's a 7.5 on the Normal People scale.

Perfectly illustrated, eerie and atmospheric, a story of friendship in the face of evil.

As good if not better than the 1st book. Not often I have to yell at the main character “don't kill the toddler”!