Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is: Book Covers In the Colours of My Country’s Flag. I live in the UK so I’ve chosen books I’ve read with red, white and blue covers, which wasn’t as easy as you might think!
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC of this book.
Harlan Coben is one of my favourite authors. I love his twisty crime novels. However, I was almost put off reading this book in the first few pages with the depiction of the brutal murder of a small child. I hate reading about violence towards children.
In the end, I was glad I persisted with this book. It starts with a man who had been convicted of the murder of his child having to break out of jail in order to find the child he believes is not actually dead. The jail break premise felt intriguing, refreshing and a bit different for Coben.
I enjoyed the story, although I thought the ending, which tied everything up in a happy, neat little bow was very unlikely considering all the trauma the characters had experienced throughout the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.
The latest book from one of my favourite authors lives up to everything I expect from Anne Tyler. She is the queen of observing ordinary human life and all the small little incidents and feelings which build a larger life. There is not much plot in this book, which provides snapshots of a family over several decades, but it gives a tender, wry, and poignant insight into human nature.
I enjoy Tyler’s style and writing, but this wouldn’t suit someone searching for a more narrative driven book as it really mostly amounts to vignettes about different family members across the decades.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for the ARC of this book.
I enjoyed this feel good romance between a couple of contestants on a cooking show which is basically The Great British Bake Off. It is the second book in a series set in this world. I have not read the first book and I don’t think you need to have to enjoy this book. Other than a couple of passing mentions of characters from the previous book, it seems to be a standalone story.
The main character, Paris, has severe anxiety issues. I did think it was unlikely that someone with such clear mental health issues would be allowed to participate in a reality TV programme, but maybe I am just naive. I believe Nadiya Hussain, who actually won bake-off, had a history of panic attacks and agoraphobia.
Paris has a romance with another competitor called Tariq. Tariq is a genuinely lovely character to the extent that I wasn’t sure that you should route for their relationship because he deserves someone perfect for him who doesn’t have the sort of issues that Paris has. Paris is very self-absorbed and barely able to function as a human being sometimes. However, I think the author allows for enough realistic personal growth in both characters to just about pull off the required feel good happy ending.
The romance is very clean, because Tariq does not believe in sex before marriage, so there is nothing more graphic than kissing. This, combined, with the baking show setting makes for a sweet and cosy read in spite of the exploration of severe mental health issues.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for the ARC of this book.
This is an enjoyable romance with a very familiar premise; big town career lady falls for hunky, impossibly perfect, small town carpenter, but how can they have a future when they come from two such different worlds?
It’s very predictable and the resolution to the couple’s issues is obvious throughout the book. However, the journey to the inevitable conclusion is fun. I especially enjoyed the depiction of the the lead male, Daniel, who is considerate, forgiving, cooks, cleans and is perfect in every way. It’s amusing the impossible standards for men who romance novels set. The book also benefits from covering the more serious topic of abusive relationships in a sensitive way which adds depth to the basic narrative.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC of this book.
The first 90% of this book reads like a very standard and derivative Golden Age crime novel in the vein of Poirot or Sherlock Holmes, where a slightly hapless person follows a detective trying to solve a crime in a fixed location. In this case, an art dealer has been killed on board a transatlantic ship voyage from England to America in the 1920s and his murder is investigated by a policeman from Scotland Yard followed around by a ship’s officer.
Despite feeling derivative, it’s very readable, familiar and comfortable . The last 10% has a very modern twist, which I was not completely convinced by. It’s probably necessary in order for the book to not solely be Golden Age pastiche, but I found the ending a little frustrating because it does not completely resolve whether the actions which happen in the twist were effective in what the character involved was trying to achieve.
All in all, it’s an easy, fun read but doesn’t really have anything to raise it above any of the other 1920s murder mysteries out there.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.
This is the fourth installment in Horowitz’s detective series where he places himself as one of the lead characters and writes as though he is the author following around and reporting on detective Daniel Hawthorne as he solves crimes. I really enjoy this series, it’s such a clever concept and works well to draw you into the narrative.
I think this is an excellent addition to the series. There’s less focus on Horowitz trying to figure out Hawthorne’s backstory and more on the action surrounding Horowitz, who in this book is the main murder suspect, after a theatre critic who gives him a bad review is murdered. I find that more fun as I’m not as invested as Horowitz is in knowing Hawthorne’s story.
The conclusion is purposely mimicking a Poirot book with limited suspects gathered together while the detective explains who did it and goes through all the clues you should have spotted in the course of reading the book.
It’s a delightfully fun and easy read which touches upon a couple of more serious issues such as cultural appropriation and the use of young offender’s institutions in the UK. I highly recommend this series and eagerly await the next offering.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC of this book.
I’ve really enjoyed Karen McManus’s other books, but this one didn’t quite live up to the others. The action basically takes place in a single day, which should give it pace and action, but it felt meandering and inconsequential.
It’s hard to care about characters who make such terrible decisions. For example they discover a dead body and rather than calling an ambulance/the police, they run away leading themselves into all sorts of unnecessary trouble.
The ending is also very strange, it ends very abruptly, so I imagine it is setting up a sequel, but there didn’t seem to be enough meat on the bones of the original story to warrant drawing it out any further.
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the ARC of this book.
I have been trying to read this book for 6 years. I found it really hard to get into. The beginning reads like it’s picking up in the middle of a series and you haven’t started with the first book. You have to read about 40% of the book before the lead character even has a conversation with his love interest.
It was easier to read once Baz, the love interest, turned up. His point of view is more interesting than the lead, Simon. He is more self-aware and there is more action once he arrives.
It’s a shame because I thought ‘Eleanor and Park’ by the same author was perfection, so I know Rowell can write a beautiful, well contained, sublime love story but this book felt self-indulgent and rambling by comparison. I don’t think fantasy is her forte.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.
This is the second in Harlan Coben’s series featuring lead character Wilde and supporting characters from his other series. I love Coben’s writing but I don’t think Wilde is his best protagonist, his backstory is a bit ridiculous.
I was pleased that the book gives us some resolution as to how Wilde ended up abandoned in the woods as a child, even if didn’t entirely make sense.
As usual, this book featured some interesting current hot topics, such as DNA matching sites and online fame. Parts of the story were fun and intriguing and parts were a bit far-fetched.
I really enjoy Hester Crimstein’s no nonsense attorney character. The other supporting characters also help to make Wilde more relatable.
Anna's reading list 