This list is a little shorter than normal as I found myself in a reading funk - I wasn't invested in the stories I was reading, I was socialising more whilst I still could, and I was spending a little less time with my head in a book and a bit more time in the real world. You'll notice I also made the transition back to physical books after a 'e-reading gifted proofs' stage, just because I'm looking for that comfort that a physical book brings to my soul.
Just Between Friends by Rosie Nixon (*)
Rated: 3/5 🌟
Just Between Friends follows two expectant mothers who attend a local baby group in Clapham. As the story begins to unfold, you realise the pair's lives entwine outside of the group too. Aisha and Lucy are very different women, but the pair have shared experiences including some hilarious sounding pregnancy classes involving mooing like a cow.
The dual narrative that switches between Lucy and Aisha is intriguing and works well to build tension as the events and secrets unfold, and I enjoyed the contrast between the two women and their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood and the trials and tribulations of life. Whilst they're both in their late thirties, worried about how things will go with their pregnancies and their relationships with their partners, there are still enough differences to keep you intrigued.
As the book synopsis describes this is essentially a tale of 'new mums, old secrets', and whilst it is a little predictable it's still an enjoyable story but by far not the best I've read.
Out of Love by Hazel Hayes
Rated: 5/5 🌟
This story starts at the end. The end of a relationship between an unnamed female protagonist and her long-term boyfriend Theo.
It was unlike anything I've ever read - tinged with bittersweet sadness, and an almost melancholic look at love, by the end of the story (or the beginning of their relationship) I was in tears. Much like life itself, there's no real resolution - there's a messy relationship and a sprinkling of moments that ultimately butterfly affect the ending of the pair. It's a sentimental, honest, and heartbreakingly transparent look at the events and demise of a duo and it really resonated with my own break-up, forcing me to look back at seemingly 'irrelevant' moments, that may have ultimately triggered the end in some way. This was a love story about people who were toxic for another, which is often something you don't see in romance fiction - the characters don't have flaws or complications. This isn't your traditional boy-meets-girl, something prevents them from getting together, problem solved, bam happy ever after. This is more real and more delicate, and I'd even say haunting. Love, life, and trauma are delicately handled by author Hazel, and there are enough humorous moments to make you cry through the inevitable tears you'll shed. This story really hit home with me, leaving a deep ache in my chest - it reminds me so much of Sally Rooney's style of writing encompassing beautiful yet flawed people coping with the every day
There's a visceral and tangible love felt for the heroine's love for her home country and being Irish, and this really struck me in my core as I too am someone so proud of my family heritage and the region I come from in Wales. I really loved that this was a constant flow of love throughout the story, whereas the love for Theo (the ex, then-boyfriend, then boy) went from being gone to being all-consuming, and to slowly fizzing and building. Reading the last pages it genuinely felt like the beginning of a fairytale, but again I ADORED knowing how it would all end, and it got me thinking that if I was the heroine and knew how my relationship with Theo ended, whether I would've gone through with it all. It was poignant and gripping and resonated in my brain long after I read the final page.
My one qualm is that I didn't really think the protagonist was in her thirties - the descriptions of her appeared a little more juvenile and relevant to twenty-somethings. I did however love the character-study approach of learning more about her, her thoughts, her dealings with depression and anxiety, and learning to 'fix' herself. I admit I initially picked it up because I know the author from her YouTube channel, and the concept seemed promising but I admit this stuck with me and became SO much more.
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
Rated: 4/5 🌟
This is a story of two people who don't know each other who share a flat, and a bed- Leon has the place during the day and Tiffy at night. It's an unconventional scenario, but one that apparently works. The pair communicate via Post-It notes, scribbled letters, and food or baking leftovers for one another until they inevitably fall in love. Sounds like a fluffy, adorable meet-cute right? This book was actually quite stressful and angsty but shows the real power of a support network for some who's dealt with abuse and trauma. The romance is a slow burner, and instead focuses more on the pair overcoming their own issues rather than asking the other to 'fix them'. When they inevitably end up together, it's charming and benign, and their actions are tentative at first before that warmth, comfort, and familiarity between the two grow.
There are cute fluffy moments which you'd obviously want from a rom-com, and like Beth O'Leary's The Switch, there is real character growth before the characters achieve real joy (which I love!). It's a very honest, true, and complicated love story, and the pair are realistic - dealing with their own struggles and internal battles, but with the support of one another. There's a fantastic supporting cast - particular highlights are Leon's brother Richie, and Rachel, Tiffy's colleague.
Tiffy is complex, goofy and an actual sweetheart, whereas Leon is more serious but soft and the pair form a great duo. The switching between the two's perspectives, and that most of their interactions come from written correspondence really resonated with the sappy romantic in me, and that shower meeting made me laugh out loud because it's a typical cliché rom-com scene. This is a captivating, entertaining read that has seriousness fizzing beneath the surface. It's ultimately a sappy and feel-good love story at its core, and it's exactly the kind of story I needed to read as the world goes through a global pandemic and a secondary lockdown.
Like sinking into fresh sheets, delving back into the story was comforting and irresistible. The story is memorable, it's distinctive, and it's quirky enough without being overly weird. Whilst it was the initial unusual premise, and the likeness to Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes that drew me in, it was the story itself and the excellent characterization that kept me hooked.
A Love Story for Bewildered Girls by Emma Morgan
Rated: 2/5 🌟
This book focuses on the lives of three women - Grace, Annie, and Violet. Annie and Violet are roommates, and Grace is Annie's psychologist, and apart from another relationship, there isn't much interactivity between the trio, which I think I would've liked more. There's a lack of suspense and intrigue, and as the narrative chops and changes quickly and often without reason I found it difficult to connect with any of the three.
I'd seen so many people liken this book to Expectation but the narrative from three different females is where the similarities end for this. There's no real semblance of a plot in this story, and instead, it follows the lives of three women who are connected but who never really feature prominently in each other's 'chapter'. We see the every day and the mundane details of the women's lives and ultimately their love lives are meant to be the basis of the story. It takes the ordinary lives of ordinary women aspect that I normally love, and made this into a tedious and almost boring piece of fiction. I found myself dreading picking the book back up to persist further to hear even more details about their lives.
I'm glad that this does focus a little on other issues - anxiety, having no children, sexuality, relationship with families, and the expectations that come with being a thirty-something female in a modern world of dating. I was expecting there to be a little more weight, or moral to take away from the story but instead, I'm left feeling a little tepid about the whole thing - whilst it wasn't the worst story I've ever read, it also isn't the best.
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Rated: 4/5 🌟
Interweaving the past and present, we follow narrator Maud as she simultaneously looks for both her friend Elizabeth in the present day and her missing sister Sukey during the war, ultimately a 70-year unsolved mystery.
This is one of the first stories I've read from the perspective of someone losing themselves and their memories to senility (perhaps Alzheimer's or Dementia, it's not identified!) and ultimately her condition makes her an intriguing narrator of the story. She's a deeply unreliable narrator - a trope I love from stories like Gone Girl - and this is unlike any other crime novel I've read. The theme of dementia is handled delicately and accurately - the author completely captivates feelings of confusion, frustration, anxiety, and fear from the protagonist with the condition, and also shows how Maud's family deal with the condition and the woman's escapades.
There are heartfelt poignant moments in the story - especially when Maud interacts with her sister, and also her grandchild Katy - and there are also funny and charming moments, and I was really drawn in by Maud and her eccentricities. The story is a little bittersweet, and I found the link between Sukey and Elizabeth's stories to be a great narrative connection, but the finding of Elizabeth is anticlimactic, and that of Sukey is predictable. There were moments when the plot felt a little repetitive, and I found the tension builds quite effectively in some areas but without the punch of delivery I was expecting after so much anticipation. It's more a tender and gripping read, rather than a haunting and unsettling one.
And there we have it, my October reading list summarised! Have you read any of these? As always message me to discuss
Kisses,
Chlo
