Reading from my TBR pile: 5 star books

 

MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Not much actually happens in this book. Four siblings prepare for a big party the eldest sister is holding in her grand house on the cliffs at Malibu. In between those chapters, we get an insight into their relationships by flashbacks into the past from the moment of their parents' first meeting. That's it. There isn't much action, no surprise twists or big reveals. And yet it's one of the best books I've read this year.

Why? Because of the characters. Within a few chapters, Nina, Jay, Hudson and Kit and their parents became as real to me as people I'd known all my life. In each of their chapters, I BECAME them. I cried their tears, felt their pain, was elated with their joy and most of all, understood the bond that cemented them together in an indestructible bond.

MALIBU RISING was one of those rare gems that stole a piece of my heart whilst I was reading it and made me grieve for its characters when they were no longer part of my life. The vibes of a Malibu summer in the early 80s made this a perfect holiday read with all the feels. It's not often that a book so perfectly captures my imagination, no, my entire soul. I loved every minute of it and it's a definitive highlight of this year for me. The hype is real!

BLACK RABBIT HALL by Eve Chase

 

If I had to choose my favourite book by Eve Chase, it would be BLACK RABBIT HALL. I adored everything about the story, from its atmospheric setting of Black Rabbit Hall to its characters, who all came to life for me. I especially loved the Alton children - Toby, Amber, Kitty and Barney – who immediately captured my heart and kept me eagerly reading on. Their strong bond, a theme that features strongly in all of Chase’s novels, warmed my heart and ultimately broke it.

The dual timeline worked well for me in this story, even though I had brief concerns that I would not find Lorna’s story as interesting as the rest. Unfounded fears, as it turned out. The family secrets that drove this mystery had me totally intrigued and the setting was so vivid that I can still picture it long after finishing the book.

BLACK RABBIT HALL is one of those rare stories that not only rolled out like a movie in my head, but also totally captured my heart and my imagination. I savoured this book and loved every minute of it. If you haven’t read any of Chase’s books yet, I recommend you start with this one!

Book Review: THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware

 

Title: THE IT GIRL

Author: Ruth Ware

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia

Read: May 2022

Expected publication: 3 August 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

  

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

My musings:

 

It’s no secret that Ruth Ware is one of my favourite authors and I will devour anything she has written. In THE IT GIRL, she once again showcases the writing style she is famous for: the slow-burning, character driven mystery that keeps you guessing the whole time. Featuring her trademark slightly damaged / neurotic character, there is that delicious element of doubt whether they are being totally honest with you, which adds additional challenges to the armchair detective. My initial theory, as clever as I though it was, was ultimately proven wrong again!

Hannah is one of Ware’s trademark characters. Not completely likeable, slightly obsessive, neurotic, suspicious and hiding her own secrets, she was nevertheless relatable and quickly drew me into the story. There are few people who won’t be able to relate to an average, even a bit boring person being drawn into the limelight of a more glamorous friend and falling under their spell. Hannah Jones, an only child, bookish and as average as her surname (no slight intended), is instantly smitten by her vivacious roommate April Coutts-Clivenden as soon as they meet in their dorm room in Oxford. And here is one of Ware’s other skills that instantly draws me to her books: her ability to create a dark atmospheric setting, in this case Oxford College. Who can’t imagine sinister going-ons in those dark halls and narrow staircases? A place where creepy porters patrol the grounds, and a high wall keeps you out (or in) at night.

As in her previous novel THE LYING GAME, THE IT GIRL features a group of college friends whose dynamics drive the “THEN” part of the novel, recounting the events leading up to April’s murder. The “NOW” focuses on an adult Hannah, now married to April’s former boyfriend and living far from the scene of the crime, in Edinburgh. When Hannah hears that the man who had been convicted of April’s murder has died in prison, past memories resurface, even though she has tried so very hard to keep them buried.

 

Summary:

 

THE IT GIRL is a must read for fans of dark academia or those who love mysteries based on friendship dynamics. It’s one of those rare books that features a clever twist that remains plausible and shows how cleverly plotted this book really was, and how all the clues led up to this point (and yet I totally missed them). It’s a delicious slow burn with an atmospheric setting that made for some great armchair travel. If you are a fan of Ware’s writing then you will most likely enjoy this one as well – I know I did!

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: RUN TIME by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

Title: RUN TIME

Author:  Catherine Ryan Howard

Publisher:  Blackstone Publishing

Read: April 2022

Expected publication: 16 August 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Movie-making can be murder...

The project:
Final Draft, a psychological horror. Promising Young Thing Steve Dade will direct.

The tagline:
'Based on a terrifying true story. That hasn't happened - yet.'

The location:
A cottage deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.

The lead:
Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can't help but hope that this will be her big break.

The problem:
Something isn't quite right on the set of Final Draft.
Adele is about to discover that the real horror lies off the page..

 

My musings:

 

I love the way CRH’s mind works. Nothing is ever straightforward. I may trust that the characters are telling me the truth, but in the end they always manage to surprise me. In RUN TIME, CRH takes the theme of your typical horror movie and runs with it, drawing on her brother’s experiences with the world of film. I really enjoyed how the book managed to be both a “book within a book” as well as a movie within a book, with all three mediums intersecting to create a deliciously descriptive backdrop. The concept of life mirroring a horror movie script was an intriguing and refreshingly original concept. I also felt that the chapters of screenplay provided an interesting contrast from the main story and were very “visual” – it gave me the feeling of bingeing on a favourite Netflix series. 

As with her previous book, 56 DAYS, RUN TIME relies heavily on an atmospheric, claustrophobic setting – in this case the film set of a horror novel deep in some dark Irish woods (at night time in the rain). As it plays out over a short period of time, the story is both character driven as well as paying attention to the little details that will ultimately give you the clues to what is really happening here. Our main character Adele’s fragile state of mind and overactive imagination adds another element to the unreliable narrator theme that worked well here. Some old worn horror movie tropes were skilfully woven into the story in a way that both played them down as movie props and simultaneously added tension to the story as things started to happen to Adele that she couldn't explain.

Perhaps my only quibble is that the story got bogged down a bit towards the middle just as things started to go bump in the night - I would have loved to see those scenes exploited a bit more to ratchet up tension. That said, the final reveal took me by surprise and showed me just how cleverly plotted CRH's latest book really was. 

 

Summary:

 

Whilst RUN TIME wasn’t my all time favourite CRH book, it was an enjoyable and captivating novel I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I look forward to what the author will come up with next.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE BIRDCAGE by Eve Chase

 

Title: THE BIRDCAGE

Author:  Eve Chase

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Read: March 2022

Expected publication: 19 July 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Kat, Flossie and Lauren are half-sisters who share a famous artist father - and a terrible secret.

Each has found their way of burying it. Over the years they've grown apart, and into wildly different lives. But an invitation to Rock Point, the Cornish cliff house where they once sat for their father's most celebrated painting, Girls with Birdcage, reunites them.

Rock Point is a beautiful, windswept place, thick with secrets, electrically charged with the one subject the family daren't discuss. And there is someone in the shadows watching the house, their every move. Someone who remembers the girls in the painting. What they did.

The sisters must unlock the truth to set themselves free - and find each other again.

 

My musings:

 

Eve Chase knows how to write sister relationships, as she proves once again in her latest book, which was a delicious read full of family secrets and intrigue. THE BIRDCAGE. She is also very skilled in creating an atmospheric setting, so it wasn’t really a surprise that I instantly felt transported to Rock Point, the old artist’s mansion on top of a Cornish cliff. It is here that half sisters Kat, Flora and Lauren meet, summoned by their father, the eccentric artist Charlie Finch. Each one of the sisters embarks on the journey with some trepidation, owing to the dark secret they have been harbouring for 20 years, each of them honouring the unspoken Finch code of silence that has weighed heavily on them. Has the time come to finally confront the past? 

 

As with Chase’s previous books, each character is colourfully drawn and instantly came to life in my mind, especially the eccentric Charlie. There was even a talking African grey parrot, Bertha, who will spill a secret or two in this ill-fated family reunion. I loved the way each sister has a very distinct personality, which added to the complexity of their relationships.  

 

Told in two separate timelines, the story focuses not only on the family reunion and the sisters’ waiting for Charlie’s big announcement, but also on the events of twenty years ago, the year of the famous eclipse, when a terrible tragedy tore the sisters apart. The central mystery was intriguing and further aided by the little morsels Bertha would reveal at the most inopportune moments. It’s the first time I have ever seen a parrot used to give clues to the reader to solve the puzzle, and I loved it! The old house featured like a character in its own right, making this a most colourful and interesting cast that easily swept me along on their quest for the truth. 

 

I first fell in love with this author when I read THE GLASS HOUSE, and her latest book continued this trend. I now look forward to reading her entire backlist. If you love a good sister mystery and family secrets, then you can’t go wrong with this one! 

 

 

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill

 

Title: THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY

Author:  Sulari Gentill

Publisher:  Poisoned Pen Press

Read: May 2022

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

 

My musings:

 

I’m trying to decide where to start with my review of THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, because this book is unlike anything I have ever read. If you think that Sulari Gentill broke the mould with her previous book, AFTER SHE WROTE HIM, then you will be thrilled to hear that she has done it again! The book within a book theme may not be new, but Gentill has added elements to it that were unique and clever and had me eagerly anticipating the course of action the story would take.

 

I am torn – on one hand I want to tell you all about the brilliant course this book took (call it a “twist” for lack of a better word), on the other hand I absolutely don’t want to give you any spoilers. When the moment came, I was so taken aback that I gasped loudly, waking my dog out of a deep sleep. So I am going to take the latter option and keep my mouth tightly zipped, even though I am dying to discuss it!

 

I can safely give away that the story features a book-within-a-book and correspondence from one of the author’s devout fans who is giving feedback on her novel as she is writing it. The story also contains a solid mystery that was fun to solve, so really it ticked all the boxes for me. But most of all, it was original and intriguing and made me grin a few times with that subtle Aussie humour that maybe only Aussies get, but which was refreshing and quirky.

 

Sorry folks, I am going to leave it at that! Let’s just says that THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY will appeal to readers who are looking for a mystery that transcends all the boundaries and breaks the mould of the sea of same-old books out there. When you get to the spot in the novel that I am (not) talking about, you will know, trust me! I enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to what crazy idea the author will cook up next.

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.