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Kate Bottley, Richard Coles & Giles Fraser – Three Vicars Talking
I had this book on my Christmas list this year as I absolutely love both Kate Bottley and Richard Coles. I’d not heard of Giles Fraser before reading this book, but now I think he’s great.
What I didn’t realise when I asked for this book is that it is a transcript of a series of radio shows that the three vicars recorded together over the previous year (I guess I should probably have figured that out from the title…), but the fact that it was a transcription of a conversation meant that it felt really natural and friendly and as if you could have been there with them.
Each section of the book is themed on a different topic; covering baptisms, weddings, funerals, Christmas and Easter. The Easter topic felt particularly poignant as it was recorded during the first part of Covid when the word was in complete turmoil.
What was quite interesting was to hear the different opinions of each vicar and how they differed, their personalities shining through from the pages. And because it was a conversation, it didn’t feel like a competition , it felt very relaxed.
The other bonus of it being a conversation rather than a carefully manuscripted and edited book was that the language used was approachable and personal and easy to understand, making this the perfect book for both experience Christians and those new to the faith.
My only wish is that I had listened to the radio shows themselves as I think it would have been a wonderful thing to listen to rather than read – perhaps they’ll still be on iplayer. But I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in differing opinions on our Christian traditions.
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Faithful
As soon as I saw this book announced I knew from the list of collaborating authors that it was going to be a must-read. And boy was I right.
A collection of stories about how God shows his faithfulness through women in the Bible, it was written by a group of women who came together in Nashville to write this book and record an accompanying album of matching songs.
Containing heartfelt personal stories alongside brilliant insight into the lives of these women of the Bible, some of whom I have read about many times before, others who were kinda new to me, I felt like each chapter opened my eyes to something new and revealed more to me about who God is.
For example, like Rahab:
I don’t want a useless faith. I want a dynamic faith – the kind of living, active faith that speaks loudest without words.
I feel like I could share most of this book based on the highlights I have, there were so many parts that felt like they were speaking directly to me. And I can guess that this is the kind of book where I could read it again in a few years time and get an entirely different set of relatable quotes.
The broken things that have left the deepest wounds can be the very catalysts that cause us to reach toward Him for hope and healing.
I’d recommend this book to everyone, although particularly women, to make you look at these marginalised characters in the Bible and make you realise that God had a plan for them just like he does for us, and that he can use the most unlikely circumstances to show his faithfulness again and again.
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Leigh Bardugo – Six of Crows
This was a book of two halves for me really. After reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy, I found the start of this book really slow to get going. I started reading it in June and got about 100 pages in before I just wasn’t feeling it and I put it down in favour of other books.
But then when I picked it back up last week, either the book just picked up or my brain was more in the mood for it but I was suddenly gripped and couldn’t stop reading – it was the kind of book I carried around in my handbag with me just in case I had a spare 5 minutes to read.
We’re in the same world as Shadow and Bone – the Grishaverse, but we’re not in the same timeline so things are familiar but very different.
We’re introduced to Kaz Brekker, the leader of a small gang in Ketterdam, the best gang in Ketterdam. He’s given the chance to pull off what might be the biggest heist in history, and it would make him more rich than he could ever dream.
But of course, it won’t be an easy mission, far from it. And Kaz can’t do it alone. He’ll need his gang with him, and a couple of others too – they’re what you could call a rag-tag bunch but if anyone can do it, they can.
Once I was gripped, I thought the book was amazing, so fast paced and I loved seeing the relationships build between the members of Kaz’s gang.
What I do have to say though is that although I couldn’t have predicted what would happen at the end, I was so mad when I turned the last page. I had taken this book on holiday with me and not the sequel, and let’s just say that if you’re planning on reading this book, you should buy the sequel in advance because you’re going to want to carry straight on. -
Diana Gabaldon – Dragonfly in Amber
I have slightly mixed feelings about this book. I was so invested in Claire and Jamie after the end of book one, but starting this book with Claire back in the ‘present day’ made me wonder what we could possibly be about to read.
We start the book introduced to Roger, who ends up helping Claire and her daughter Brianna in their endeavours to do some ‘family research’, trying to figure out what happened to Jamie after Claire was no longer with him. I immediately assumed that Brianna was Jamie’s daughter, but there were many things throughout the book that left me wondering if that could be true.
We’re also introduced to what seems to be a potential romance between Roger and Brianna, but it doesn’t feel natural – very one sided on Roger’s part. We’ll see where it develops.
Back to the question of how in the world we were going to get back to Jamie. We end up there as Claire starts telling Brianna and Roger her story. Brianna doesn’t believe a word of it but we spend the next 700 pages being told the story in great detail.
I loved Claire and Jamie being back together again, it just felt right. The story was clearly well researched (although I don’t really know the history that well so for all I know it was incredibly far fetched).
On the negative side, the story felt like it was a lot longer than it needed to be – at almost a thousand pages It was definitely a major time investment and could’ve probably have been a couple of hundred pages shorter without losing too much.
My other negative is the amount of non-consensual sex as part of the plot. It might have been very common at the time and therefore historically accurate, but it also made me feel a bit uncomfortable to be reading it – not all of it felt necessary to the plot.
What I did like was Claire being an active character and not just Jamie’s wife, and that Jamie was mostly happy for that to happen – although their relationship through this book was definitely not without ups and downs. They went through an awful lot together and the ending was pretty expected given what we knew from how the book started..
Back in modern times as Claire finishes telling the story to Roger and Brianna, and then we’re back to puzzling how or if Claire and Jamie could be reunited again…I guess we’ll find out in book 3!
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Carrie Hope Fletcher – On the Other Side
I basically love everything that Carrie Hope Fletcher does, and I was very happy to get this book on Audible, so not only was it written by Carrie, it was narrated by her too.
We start the book meeting Evie Snow. She has just passed away at age 82, but she finds that not only can she not get into heaven, she’s her 27 year old self again. Her soul is too heavy to get into heaven and she needs to deal with three of the secrets that have weighed her heart down through her life.
We join Evie as she travels three times through the wall back into her present-day real life to see her family and find how they can help her pass through. We are also taken back in time to Evie’s earlier life and we watch her as she falls in love and struggles with the conflict of personal dreams and family pressure.
I loved it, the characters, the way the story developed and the fact that I felt invested with the whole thing. Having it read by the author just added that extra to it which made it feel so personal.
My only bug bear with the book was that I couldn’t tell when it was set and it confused me – I thought that 82 year old Evie was present day, but 27 year old Evie seemed to have today’s technologies but a family with the morals/ideas of a 1950’s family.
Apart from that though, it was a lovely book, a nice escape from reality and a fab concept. And without spoilers, the ending was just perfect, even though I was very unsure of how it would end until I read it.
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Florence Given – Women Don’t Owe You Pretty
I was intrigued to read this book after picking it up on a whim in Waterstones. It’s described as an ‘accessible entry point into progressive feminist discussion’, which isn’t my usual reading material, but following these kinds of accounts on instagram made me want to give it a try.
It covers topics such as body shaming, identity building, gender double standards and much much more. I was surprised to realise towards the end of the book that the author is quite young – she talks in the book as if she’s had a lot of personal experience (which she may well have), but it did feel to me like it was stretching to have a personal experience for every single chapter.
The other thing that bothered me was that the author claimed to speak with authority on a very wide range of topics, including things like oppression of black women. Given the book has strong vibes of lifting people up and not dismissing lived experience, it felt very weird for a white woman to be writing on that topic – I feel like she could either have left that chapter out or collaborated with another author to bring a black voice into the conversation.
It did bring me a bit of self reflection and the illustrations were great, but I did feel certain parts felt a bit patronising and I would have liked to hear from more voices – it felt like the kind of book that might better be served by having contributions from a range of authors. A great entry-level book though for people new to these kinds of topics.
“You are never going to be your best if subconsciously you’re trying to be someone else’s best. “
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Julia Quinn – The Duke & I (Bridgerton #1)
I’ve been wanting to read this book since we binge-watched the Netflix series over Christmas, so it’s been a long time coming!
I bought this book from Waterstones a couple of weeks ago, and then on a trip to Costco I managed to get the next 4 books in the series super cheap, which was a bonus!
I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the Netflix series – it was slightly less ‘raunchy’ in the book, but the storyline followed quite similarly. There were enough differences to keep me following, intrigued by what was going to happen next, but it was familiar enough that I really loved it.
There was a scene in the Netflix series which troubled me, and I was sad to find out it was in the book too. Basically, the Duke has decided that he doesn’t want kids, but hasn’t told his wife. She decides to take matters into her own hands, and all I can say is that what happened felt borderline assault-y to me and it made me feel very uncomfortable, especially when it was made out to be his fault not hers.
But the romance between Daphne and the Duke was just as lovely in the book as the series and it felt like a warm hug of a book. I can’t wait to start the second book and move on from the familiarity of the series to a new story.
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Sister Elizabeth Pio – Bible to Go!
This book takes the reality that God can speak to us in any place, and puts it into action.
Each chapter is written from a different location – a Costa coffee, a pub, on the sofa watching Eastenders, and uses that situation to put a particular verse from the Bible into context.
Each chapter starts with a little introduction – always Sister Elizabeth talking to you and her little doggy. Then we dig into a Bible verse before she bids us farewell until the next time we meet.
I think a fun experiment would have been to read each chapter in the actual location that it’s written for, but sadly I didn’t have that luxury – instead I read it a chapter each night before bed. It was a great book to be split into chunks and read that way instead of all-through.
I love the informal style combined with the knowledge put into each of the mini Bible studies – I learnt a lot but it was also fun and enjoyable. I’d definitely recommend this book!
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Beth O’Leary – The Switch
I’m sure we can all agree that characters agreeing to switch lives is quite a common occurence in romance – not just in books but films too – like one of my favourites, The Holiday.
But I can honestly say this was not like all the rest. I’ve definitely never read a book where one of the swappers was 79 years old, and I’ve definitely never read a book with a 79 year old like Eileen!
Leena’s life is kinda crumbling around her. Her sister died and she’s not coping very well (understatement) and she’s just fluffed up a very important meeting at work. When her boss insists that she take 2 months of paid leave to get herself right, she’s not sure what she’s going to do.
Her grandma Eileen is also not having a good time. Her husband has left her for their dance teacher of all people, and she’s lonely. The only problem is there are only a handful of men in the village where she lives, and after drawing up a detailed pros + cons list of all the men, she realises she might be out of luck.
So Leena needs a break and Eileen needs a bigger pool to fish in so to speak. Perfect. Leena goes to live in her grandma’s house in the small Yorkshire village, and Eileen heads down to the big smoke to live in Leena’s Shoreditch flat.
Usually when I’m reading a book from multiple perspectives, I have one that is clearly my favourite. But I genuinely loved both Leena and Eileen. Seeing Leena heal from her hurt and get to grips with (very) small town life was just so lovely. And seeing Eileen come to life in the world of online dating was both charming and hilarious – I mean you don’t expect to read about a 79 year old getting her first ‘unsolicited’ pic on a dating site!
Heartwarming and giving all the fuzzy feels, while still having drama and excitement, I read this book in a single day – a hairdressers appointment and a football game to ignore definitely gives lots of time for reading!
I loved the previous O’Leary book I read too (The Flatshare) so I can’t wait for more!
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Laura Jane Williams – The Lucky Escape
So Annie’s life is not going too well. She arrives at her own wedding to be told that her husband-to-be is not there. And he hasn’t even had the bravery to tell her himself, he’s texted the wedding planner and disappeared.
Understandably, Annie falls apart a bit. But when she signs up for a local gym to get herself back together, she bumps into an old friend Paddy and he seems to really make her smile again.
Annie’s ex-future-in-laws are just as disgusted with Alexander’s behaviour as Annie is, and they insist that Annie goes on her honeymoon anyway. On a spur of the moment impulse, she decides to take Paddy with her. Completely no-strings-attached, just two friends enjoying a holiday together. They even come up with a code word for when they want to spend time alone without hurting each other’s feelings.
But it turns out that the holiday was slightly fancier than Annie expected. From the business class flights, to the personal drivers, to the amazing suites – it’s basically everything you need to help you fall in love.
And as much as Annie and Paddy want to deny it, they’re falling in love. Of course the path of true love never did run smooth and they run into some hurdles along the way!
I just loved seeing their relationship grow, and all in the beautiful Australian back-drop with all the fanciness provided by Annie’s almost in-laws.
I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to give away any big spoilers, but I will say that I really loved this book. The last book I read by this author (The Love Square), I just didn’t get along with too well, but this one was much more my cup of tea, and I have another by the same author lined up on my TBR shelf too.
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 