Hannah Morgan-Lewis
I loved this historical gothic mystery set in Wales. I found the mystery a complete page-turner with all sorts of classic gothic elements included. The characters were well-observed, particularly Henry, the doctor who stumbles into the mystery, and Linette, the daughter of the house where he goes to work. I also really appreciated how the author writes so lovingly about Wales; its landscape, people, language and folklore. I will definitely be looking up her other work.
It's always interested seeing what Powers will make of a literary biography, and I enjoyed this spin on the life of the Brontes. Emily takes centre stage, but this is about Bramwell too. Plenty of gothic elements including werewolves, ghosts, curses and a cult. It was atmospheric and I thought it was decently written but didn't particularly have anything that new to say about the family, especially the petulant Bramwell. Emily was far more interestingly written as a character.
Capote and his ‘swans' make brilliant subjects for a biography and it's obvious that Leamer did his research. With multiple subjects, it was a difficult task weaving all the stories together and I thought the author did a good job. It was an entertaining (if somewhat tragic at times) biography with lots of gossipy bits. What I found a bit distasteful was the throwaway comments made about the weight of the women, commenting on them being fat or super slim. I think it's probably a generational thing in that Leamer is an older author, but I am listening to Deliberate Cruelty by Roseanne Montillo (about a woman involved with Capote who was accused of murder) at the same time and so far there I haven't found the same kind of weight references.
Finding this difficult to rate. I liked the dystopian elements, but I found that this is a novel that goes to excess - excessively dislikeable characters, over-the-top situations, relationships that are way too close and the feeling of being bludgeoned repeatedly with ideas about feminism and marriage. It's entertaining but requires a certain level of disbelief. I think it was aiming at satire but slightly missed the mark for me, perhaps because the main character takes herself so seriously and is repeatedly on the verge of a panic attack. It doesn't fit very well into the contemporary thriller mould, it's quite different in the way that it explores themes about the relationships between women. I also found the ending a bit rushed and unsatisfying.
Loved this so much! Funny, and sharply written with a great plot and a fantastic protagonist. Mrs Hawkins describes her life as an editor living in London in the mid-1950s; the publishing houses, the writers and the people who live in the flats around her. In particular, the fight she has with a terrible writer which drives the plot. I love how Mrs Hawkins is unapologetically fat. There is no guilt or shame about her weight, and no hand-wringing which makes her decide to lose weight. She's practical and unsentimental and doesn't feel the need to fit into any mould. Definitely going to be looking to read more Spark in the future.
I enjoyed this Gothic ‘light' story of a Victorian medium who feels threatened by her new protege, some funny moments, well-drawn characters and it was well-researched and believable. Not a spooky novel as such, more about the relationships between women and how mediums acted as counsellors to people who needed solace from their grief.
An enjoyable modern comedy of manners, I thought the characters were true to life and I loved the shifting perspectives. I also thought the way that this was plotted was ingenious with the murder mystery party run by the contolling mother Margaret. The problems that the characters faced in the book such as Tommy finding modern life and aging difficult, George and Stella being in the middle of a divorce and Helen having problems with her 10 year old daughter were very relatable, yet this was still a funny, touching novel. I thought the ending was well-handled too. I think this would make an entertaining TV series.
Very atmospheric and I loved the inclusion of real historical figures who added to the authenticity of the novel. The characters were also well-drawn, particularly Julia, Eve and Rolf. I just found that the plot was a bit slow at points, almost like it should have been a shorter book or the main plot point should have come earlier in the book. It was like the book built up to what should have been a pivotal moment and then ran out of steam and had to move swiftly on to cover the beginning of Nazi Germany at which point the author had to speed up or else the book would have been even more drawn out.
Well-written, well-researched historical fiction. Weir illuminates the personality of Henry and the scheming of the Tudor court, showing how dangerous it could be for the people around him. I thought the depiction of his relationship with Anne Boleyn was particularly good, that he behaved as a spoilt child who was obsessed with her but realised once they had married that he desired the idea of her more than her as a person.
The first thing that really put me off was David taking advantage of Joe, his younger employee, when Joe was drunk by luring him to his room and trying to have sex with him (totally out of the blue as well). The dialogue was pretty cheesy and I found the characters and the plot not very well developed. It was quite hard to tell them apart, I had to keep referring to the chapter titles. It was also quite annoying how they just thought everything was a total joke during the later half of the book. This guy is supposed to be a congressman but is totally incapable of acting professionally or keeping his dick in his pants. The dialogue and weird lack of boundaries of consent also made the sex scenes rather...ahem...interesting. Not sure I've come across “F the shit out of me” before.
I loved the description of the town and the characters, I could see this becoming a series particularly with Jane and her ghost-hunting team. I was also very appreciative of the descriptions of Tess's delicious cooking. The house was creepy and there was the right haunting atmosphere created. I liked the mystery behind it too, particularly the working out clues from the creepy paintings. However, I was not a big fan of the ending; it felt rushed, like there were loose ends and there was a certain sense of ‘right, I'm done writing, wrapping this up now', which was a shame as I really enjoyed the rest of the book and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
Needs serious time commitment, but extremely worth it. Brooks gives a wonderful flavour of the period particularly how women worked and lived. It's obvious that she did a great deal of research and that this was a labour of love.
The character of The Wife of Bath is really fleshed out with all her flaws, as is Chaucer himself. Eleanor has a busy life veering from fortune to being down on her luck but mostly handling it with grace and fortitude, and sometimes escaping for pilgrimages. She is surrounded by a cast of vividly drawn characters including her husbands, the ever loyal Alyson, servants and people she picks up along the way and brings into her household, mostly due to them being down on their luck. I loved the depiction of her unusual family dynamics and the moral dilemmas that they sometimes cause her. If I had one criticism it would be that I wasn't a fan of Eleanor foreshadowing things so frequently, but that was a matter of personal taste which didn't particularly spoil an excellently written entertaining book.
An entertaining murder mystery with lots of cooking thrown in. I found it a little bit over the top and the main character Prudence especially so, she's quite flamboyant and tends to spend a lot of the book ordering her granddaughter around in a rather annoying way and not listening to her. The descriptions of food were good though, and whilst it wasn't my cup of tea, if you are a fan of cozy murder mysteries with a bit of humour thrown in it would make a good holiday read.
Not a fan, I thought it had promise but I got quite annoyed with the writing choices. As it is set over a wide period with many different characters it tends to skip over what should be quite traumatic events quite quickly, one minute someone is dying, the next everyone is over it. This meant for me that I couldn't really care for the characters and there are a few wives who just tend to agree with everything their husbands say as there just isn't time for any conflict, which made them seem rather one dimensional. Another character who should have had a storyline was just forgotten about for most of the story as he wasn't convenient, and that was the pattern for most of the book, people dying conviently to suit the plot. I think if you can overlook the flaws it would be the kind of book that you might pick up on holiday, and the descriptions of wine making and the setting is nice, I just felt like I needed it slowed down and shortened rather than it being at breakneck speed and very long.
I found this a surprising, haunting novella which I think would benefit from reading again as it leaves tiny clues and reoccurring motifs to suggest what happened. The writing is lyrical and at the same time constrained, yet the author manages to convey the utter devastation that the murder caused the people left behind. Yes, it can be a difficult read at times due to the shifting narratives but I found it rewarding at the same time.
I really enjoyed this entertaining tale of woe about a dysfunctional family coping with the loss of the mother. Arthur, a failing professor of engineering has realised he can't afford the family home anymore and the only solution to his problems is to tap his two children for the inheritance his wife only left for his children. Unfortunately, he's not on good terms with them. Ethan has spent all his inheritance after quitting his job and buying an overpriced apartment, and he is stuck in a kind of extended state of inertia, whereas Maggie has decided not to spend anything at all and steals things to give the money to charity. The themes running through the novel are that their attempts to help other people backfire continually because of their self-interest (there are similarities in that respect to Franzen's Crossroads) and how money and the attitude to money can affect family relationships. The characters are very well drawn and this is a funny, sometimes quite touching novel which I recommend.
I felt this was a book that didn't quite know what it wanted to be. Hailed on the cover as having ‘an edge of Gothic' it wasn't Gothic enough for me. It's called Wrecker but seemed to be more about a religious revival in Cornwall than about Wreckers, but I'm not sure it could fall into Christian fic either. It had elements of historical romance to it but it wasn't romantic. I thought the caption on the front about her life being in danger was rather misleading, it never feels as if she is in any actual peril. I also found the constant use of the word ‘ass' (to mean rear end) a bit odd, as well as a sentence blanking out a swear word - either use it or cut it, we all know what you mean!
Mary had promise as a main character, yes she's gutsy and flawed, but as a reader I got mad at her for not being a good narrator; even when major things are happening to her you don't get much of a sense of how she actually feels.
I liked the depiction of Cornwall and the residents of the village, there are some good descriptive passages and some quite funny bits, but I found the main characters frustrating, particularly the illusive Gideon, who isn't really described and has no clear motives throughout the story, he doesn't even have a good reason to build the Chapel, he just sort of falls into it ‘because'. Mary falls for him, but there doesn't seem to be any reason why, she just seems to decide he's someone new to fixate on. Most of the women just felt like snobby stereotypes to me, particularly Gideon's wife. Not a big fan of the ending either. I think maybe I just got a bit cross as I was expecting a different book!
I loved the brooding sinister atmosphere in this book and the fact that everything is left so ambiguous, leaving the reader guessing at every turn. The writing is beautiful, the author really captures a sense of place and builds the air of supernatural with the weird neighbours, strange history and the hare motif running through the novel. This would make a fantastic book club read, as you never quite know what will happen or how reliable the narrator is being.
Interesting, but I found that the great number of historical figures included meant that it was sometimes quite difficult to keep track of who was who. It is also quite speculative at times as to who fathered whom. One big turn off was the reference to ‘The Portrait of Dorian Grey' by Oscar Wilde, I might not know a huge amount of info about the historical figures, but I know that Wilde wrote ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey'! Not a big thing, but it made me suspicious I may not have picked up on further inaccuracies.
I thought this was an entertaining if slightly drawn out Regency romance. The well drawn characters gave it an authentic period feel, both the main characters and the other characters in the novel and the author created a good setting with plenty of characters and a nicely woven plot. The author does use Regency style language well, but a few Americanisms were present. This would be suitable for YA readers as well as adults as there are no saucy bits! I liked the main characters, Clara is a nicely practical heroine who doesn't show off her wealth or take herself too seriously and Brantford is kind to almost everyone he meets. I thought their interactions with Angelina were a nice touch.
I really enjoyed the story of Jenny Hill in the novel and thought it was a bit like the plot of a Thomas Hardy novel (I love Hardy).
The author drew attention to the plight of women in the period where they are at the whims of men remarrying, leaving them and uprooting them from their homes without thinking about them.
This is a very slow burn romance and occasionally frustrating for the reader as we don't know what Brantford is thinking and I think that a little bit of editing towards the end would have given the story better pacing. I would definitely read other books by the author though.
I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I found this a difficult one to rate as it's such a deeply introspective novel. Told totally in the voice of Lear's pretty much unnamed wife as she reminisces about her marriages and her family. As this is set in the convent where she has been banished to, there is not a great deal of plot even though this is set during a plague.
Overall, I thought it was a good idea and it did help illuminate the characters somewhat, particularly why Cordelia is so different to her sisters. However, it's not an easy read and I found myself forcing myself to finish it at times. I think what made it difficult was jumping around in time periods in a stream of consciousness way which suited the character, but not necessarily the reader. In short, I think I admired the writing rather than loved it as a book.
The first half of this book I found to be promising historical fiction. The heroine is spirited and educated and I enjoyed the use of the archaic language, it felt authentic. If you are looking for something with a breakneck pace and a cast of thousands, this might be for you.
However, as the plot was so intense I found that the book sacrificed on the emotional intensity. Ruth goes through a variety of horrific events but they scarcely register before Ruth moves on to the next horrific event. What should be devastating flies by without much feeling. The villain of the piece is also unredeemably bad, and personally I prefer my villains with a bit of nuance! I was also not a fan of the ending, but that goes down to personal taste.
I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.