There is something about the way the plot of this book is described on the inside cover that led me to believe that Wildwood is a survival thriller. It is more of a lighthearted survival story than a thriller. Kind of disappointing, but I still found myself engrossed by this novel for reasons other than plot and character.
…
I was looking forward to reading Helpless because I really like Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women and grew to like Luckiest Girl Alive, but I don’t know what the heck this is. I am so disappointed with this novel because it is not at all what I expected from someone who wrote such an emotionally devastating and thoughtful story like Bright Young Women.
…
To be honest, I am not sure if I was just not in the right head space to read No Friend to This House because I am experiencing Greek mythology fatigue, or if No Friend to This House is just not as good as Natalie Haynes’s previous novels, because I found this one to be boring.
…
I really liked Alix E. Harrow’s Starling House, so when I saw The Everlasting in my local independent bookstore, I knew I should read it, especially after reading the synopsis, and it turned out to be better than I hoped it would be.
…
Lady Tremaine is Rachel Hochhauser’s first novel. It is a retelling of Cinderella from the perspective of the “wicked” stepmother. I’ll admit the pretty cover is the reason why I bought this book, and it is always a treat when the story turns out just to be as good as its cover.
…
Evelyn Clarke is the pseudonym for V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, and The Ending Writes Itself is their first novel written together. It is an entertaining mystery story, although I found it too easy to figure out whodunnit.
…
The Girl with a Thousand Faces is The Book Eaters author Sunyi Dean’s second novel. I absolutely love the haunting cover of this novel, but I am sorry to say that I do not feel as strongly for the contents of the story.
…
Land is the eagerly anticipated new novel from Maggie O’Farrell, author of The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet, which was recently made into an Oscar winning film. I really enjoyed reading this novel and O’Farrell has found a place on my list of authors whose new books I will always look forward to reading.
…
Wandering Stars is Tommy Orange’s second novel and a sequel of sorts to There There. I’ve been sitting on this book since last fall because I knew it was going to be a difficult read, and yes, it is difficult to read because it is sad and tragic, but Orange’s writing is so devastating beautiful that it helped propel me through the book.
…
An Awfully Big Adventure was originally published in 1989 and is set in Liverpool in 1950. Beryl Bainbridge was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for this novel, and was nominated four other times, but never won. I bought An Awfully Big Adventure from Daunt Books in Marylebone, London on my recent trip to the UK. I bought this novel because it is supposed to be a “darkly comic novel” about a theatre company, but I do not find anything comic about An Awfully Big Adventure because all the characters in the novel are pathetic.
…