Busy/stressful time at work so I picked much lighter reads this month. Several good ones in there though, including my book of the year, which I was chuffed to find with a week to go!
The Fixer by Claudia Carroll (6/10) Meg is a “fixer”, meaning that she can be paid to remove someone from her client’s lives. The interesting thing about this premise is that she doesn’t go about it the way most people might be thinking, but rather the problematic person leaves on their own accord. I liked the premise but found the story far too long-winded, and Meg too unlikeable to fully get immersed.
Everything but the Truth by Gillian McAllister (8/10) After marriage, Rachel starts to get an inkling that her husband Jack isn’t entirely who he says he is, both through strange emails and his own behaviour. The rest of the story takes the reader on a journey to figure out what happened, and while I liked the uniqueness of the plot, I thought the ending was a bit too “tame” for what it was made out to be!
Murder Games by James Patterson & Howard Roughan (7/10) A grumpy professor and a detective become unlikely allies when the latter suspects that the former’s life is under threat by someone who calls himself “The Dealer”. There’s always a baseline enjoyment that I derive from James Patterson’s books, but this wasn’t my favourite of his fictional universes, and I found both the protagonists rather annoying.
The Cruise by Catherine Cooper (10/10) There’s trouble on a cruise when a dancer on-board goes missing, and we travel back and forth in time to find out what happened. It turns out that various happenings are more related than it originally appears to the eye, and I thought the story unfolded really well. I listened to this brilliantly done audiobook narrated by a full cast, who really made the story come to life!
How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern (7/10) Catherine finds Adam on a bridge about to commit suicide, and manages to talk him out of it – by promising to teach him to fall in love with himself before his birthday in two weeks time. This is a romance book so obviously things went a bit further than that, but there was a fair share of self-discovery that I really enjoyed following on their journey.
Too Close by Eileen Curtis (4/10) Abused as children, twins Cecelia and Sebastian are as close as ever, possibly unhealthily so. Nice premise but the rest of the book just didn’t work for me, everything about the situation was just so messed up and there was very little redeeming features within!
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (10/10) Summoned back to the grand family home where she grew up, Lily Armitage finds herself thick in a giant puzzle designed by her recently deceased aunt. Read this as a buddy read and loved it, especially the little puzzles set for the reader within the wider book.
The Interview by C.M. Ewan (7/10) An interview for what, on the surface, appears to be her dream job turns out to be much more than that for Kate. Hard to say more without giving anything away, I did like how quickly the story swung from the interview into much deeper questions. Dropped points as it was too action-ey for my liking, though this will suit some.
The Curfew by T.M. Logan (8/10) A missed curfew by son Connor turns out to be much darker as he was part of a group of five teenagers who went into a nearby woods, returning with one short. GP Andy and IT expert Laura try to figure out what happened – trying to ignore the fact that all evidence seems to point towards their son. A very well-written story (I loved Harriet!) but one too many illogical moves for my liking, particularly towards the end.
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee (10/10) A self-help / memoir about a person suffering from dysthymia, but I think her experiences will be relatable to many. I only gave it such a high score because I read it at the perfect time, when I was feeling rough myself, especially as even so I didn’t quite like the format in which it was written: Too much actual conversation transcript and too little of the reflections that I found more meaningful.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (10/10) Sam and Sadie meet as children in a hospital – him recovering from an accident and her accompanying her sick sister. They part on less than ideal terms only to meet again at university, going on to lead very intertwined lives as partners in a video game development company. My book of the year, ticked all the boxes and I loved being in their world, I didn’t want it to end!
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper (no score, DNF) Sold into prostitution, Amara navigates life in 1600s Pompeii alongside others working in the brothel. This one just didn’t work for me, it’s supposed to have a touch of magical realism but it was so subtle that all it did was confuse me as to whether it was there or not, and I couldn’t get into the story. Not giving it my usual 1* for DNFs though because it is very well written, and as I expected many others loved this book.
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood (8/10) Adjunct professor and theoretical physicist Elsie is applying for faculty positions when she finds herself coming up against the person whom she perceives as the arch enemy of her field. Things aren’t always as they seem (as the title probably suggests), and I enjoyed this romance set in the world of academia, the struggles of which Hazelwood captures so well. Nerdy jokes helped too, of course!
Dying for Christmas by Tammy Cohen (5/10) Lured into captivity in Dominic’s apartment, Jessica Gold struggles to get out of the situation that she finds herself in. Told in alternative POVs between Jessica and the detective investigating her case (who has family struggles of her own), it later contrives that the situation is far more complicated than originally depicted. I liked how the story opened but found the ending ridiculous.
The Killer’s Christmas List by Chris Frost (8/10) Newly transferred to the village of Kibblesworth, DI Tom Stonem is tasked with investigating a body found with a child’s Christmas list in his pocket. I found this one started slowly, held up mainly by how wonderfully atmospheric the writing was, although there was an intriguing parallel storyline. The reveal was genius though, and I bumped my score after seeing how both the storylines came together in the end.
A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz (10/10) Hawthorne and Horowitz strike again, this time when they attend a literary festival on the island of Alderney together, and encounter a murder that they go on to investigate. I liked the “locked room” feel of this one being on an island, and I don’t think I will ever tire of the interaction between these two.
I'm not doing anything where I could use it now, but it was still interesting.
) so these are really my reads from November and December when I had several on the go at once.
