Songs of Irie

This has much a meatier plot and is quite ambitious compared to Bromfield's first novel so I was excited to read it. The first half was so boring I started skim-reading, trying hard not to abandon the book completely. The “romance” between Irie and Jilly felt laboured and unconvincing. In the last third of the book, events picked up and the writing got quite engaging before ending abruptly in an unexpected way. I liked how the last handful of chapters were written; it was like the author suddenly decided to be creative while the earlier part was an exercise in deliberate formulaic plotting. Overall, I appreciated the historical fiction aspect but as a YA coming-of-age/romance, it was weak.

Thank you to Wednesday Books who kindly sent me an ARC for review.