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Jasmine Guillory – The Proposal
I read this book as an audio-book, and unfortunately I think my experience of it may have been clouded by the fact that I just didn’t get on with the narrator. Her voice really grated on me for some reason and it made listening to the book feel like a real drag. That doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t like the narrator though, she just wasn’t my cup of tea (even listening at 1.5x speed to try and improve things).
I’m sorry to say that I also found the book itself pretty frustrating at times. The main characters were just not likeable people in my opinion, so I didn’t have that willingness to see them end up together that I think is almost universally necessary when reading a romance.
Many times I just wanted to scream at them to get their heads out of their asses and just talk to each other. And I know that the main characters not talking to each other and getting the situation completely wrong is a common trope, but because I didn’t like the characters, it became very annoying very quickly.
The other thing that I didn’t particularly get on with was how quickly the characters seemed to go from sitting and talking to a completely x-rated scene. Perhaps if I’d been reading and not listening, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but to be suddenly dropped into a very adult scene when just walking around the park was extremely off-putting! I think perhaps I need to just steer clear of romance books on audio because it makes me cringe so badly.
The thing that initially drew me into the book was the baseball on the cover. As a huge baseball fan, I thought the idea of a baseball themed romance was a big draw, but the only real baseball mention was right at the start, when the main character complained about how annoying it was to be taken to a baseball game. Granted, the baseball game turned into the most cringey proposal ever, but she was complaining and ungrateful well before that and I wanted to slap her because I would love a date at a baseball game!
Looking at other reviews of this book, I seem to be in the minority as it seems to get mostly good reviews, so perhaps although this wasn’t my cup of tea, it may be yours. I just prefer my romance books to have characters who actually want to be together, and are not actively fighting the relationship the entire way through.
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Sarah Yardley – More Change
Thank you to the publishers & NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book to review.
I found this book fab – short and succint but packed full of knowledge. The last year has been long and complex, but the author talks with wisdom about how to navigate times of change in our lives, while keeping our focus on God.
Each short chapter in the book starts with a personal story from the author, then weaves in a story from the Bible which explains the point – perfectly blending the personal and the biblical to really bring both sides to life and make the point perfectly. Each chapter then ends with a prayer.
“Our hearts change in ways that we cannot control, and the most significant changes can happen in the quietest of moments”.
The author talks about personal change in terms of calling with a clear sense of experience and passion. She says “Pay attention to your sparks. It can be easy to dismiss and bury your dreams, to smother them with practical decisions and procedures”. This hit home. Don’t decide not to pursue your passion for practical reasons, or with the idea of sacrifice/suffering. Your sparks are your passions and you should pursue them.
Another part that particularly spoke to me after the last year was this:
“When we have run out of prayers and courage and words, God meets us in the silence.”
When this book is released, I really want to grab a physical copy because I think reading it again in tangible form rather than on my phone will be like reading it new all over again. I’ve already gone out and bought a couple of other books in the ‘More > ‘ series in the hopes they’re as good as this one.
144 pages. Published in: 2021Read in Ebookon 13th May 2021 – 13th June 2021 -
Ta-Nehisi Coates – Between the World and Me
About halfway through reading this book, I wrote this note:
“I cannot relate to this, through privilege, but it is raw and honest and powerful.”
I’ve not read a book that has moved me like this for a long time. I was right, I cannot relate to this book at all, my life has been so privileged that I have never even had to contemplate the things that Coates writes about.
But that is wrong. Why should I not have to know about these things that are ingrained in life for so many people. I may never have to experience them myself, but if I don’t know about them, how can I help to make sure no-one else has to experience them either?
The book is written as a letter to the author’s 15 year old son. It’s a heartbreaking letter taking us on a journey through the author’s life, through the awakenings he had about the history of race in America.
“You know now, if you didn’t before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. “
I don’t really want to write much more, because my words don’t matter, the words of this book matter much more. It won’t be an easy read, you won’t feel comfortable (quite the opposite), but if you come from a life of privilege, it’s important. Don’t try to make excuses about the things you read, just listen.
The book is written in such a lyrical style with such passion and conviction that you will find yourself absorbed like I was, by the distant tales made personal within these pages.
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Leigh Bardugo – Ruin and Rising
Given the explosive end to the second book in the series, I couldn’t wait to get started on this one. But unlike the first two which I devoured in days, this book took me weeks to get through. I just didn’t find the pace as quick as the first two and I wasn’t gripped like I thought I would be.
The plot was great, full of twists that I didn’t see coming, full of bright moments despite the despair they were all feeling, but I just felt like the connection I had to Alina in the start of the series had kind of drifted.
I was still invested in her, I really wanted her to find happiness, but through some of the plot twists, it seems like that might just never happen.
“In the end, maybe love just meant longing for something impossibly bright and forever out of reach.”
Once I got through the middle section of the book, I did find the pacing increased and I thought the ending was fantastic. I’ve seen reviews that really hated the way the book ended, but I was so glad that after everything that happened, Alina and Mal could have a happy ending.
One of my favourite parts of the book was getting to know more of the minor characters, Zoya, Tolya, Genya, I loved them all possibly more than Alina and Mal. I was unsure about Genya for a while, thinking she might be a ‘bad guy’ for poisoning the king, but it turns out that she was just getting revenge on him in the best way possible for one of the worst things possible.
Even though I didn’t get on with this book as much as the first two, I still can’t wait to dig into more of the Grishaverse with the other series – Six of Crows has already arrived and I’ll be getting stuck in soon!
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Hannah Fry – Hello World
I’m not going to lie, I put this book off for a while because my kindle told me it was a 5 1/2 hour read. That shouldn’t have put me off because I really thought it looked like an interesting book, and it turns out I was mistaken anyway! The book finished at 66% through and the rest of the book was taken up by references from all the research that the author had cited.
This book takes us into the hidden world of algorithms. We’ve all heard of them and they sound great, futuristic and fancy. But as this book proves, algorithms are not perfect, nowhere near it. And it’s way too easy to imbue your algorithm with either your own or historical biases that make the algorithm inherently flawed and never fit for purpose.
Fry gives many examples of how algorithms have been used, from seemingly innocuous reasons like playing chess against grandmasters, and learning how to play jeopardy, to more serious applications like cancer diagnosis and deciding whether prisoners should get bail. We are taken behind the scenes to see how these algorithms came about, and what the problems can be when the algorithms are not considered carefully.
And our relationship with algorithms is interesting too – Fry talks about the fact that we have a tendency to over-trust things that we don’t understand, until we realise that it can make a mistake. And as soon as we know that an algorithm can make a mistake, we will then revert back to our own knowledge, even if our own knowledge is more flawed than the algorithm. So intriguing.
I was completely hooked from page one of this book, I read it all in one sitting as the writing style was so friendly that even though some of the topics covered were complex, I never felt confused about what I was reading.
For anyone confused about what an algorithm even is, or for those who are concerned about the increasing prevalence of them in our society, I’d definitely recommend this book. It’s a few years old now, but I think the points raised are just as relevant (perhaps even more so) as when they were written.
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She Reads Truth – Colossians & Philemon
I’ve been looking forward to this book since it was announced and it did not disappoint.
As much as I love She Reads Truth studies that are in familiar areas, I am always more excited to be spending time in a book of the Bible that isn’t so familiar to me – and this was a two-in-one! I’ve read a bit of Colossians before, but I can’t remember ever opening Philemon, which is silly since it’s such a short book it doesn’t even have chapters!
The book, as always, was beautiful, full of little details which just really help with getting to grips with what the study is about. It also included a ‘readers edition’ of Colossians and Philemon that are presented as they would have originally been written, a letter. No chapter or verse numbers, just a letter. It’s much easier to read the whole thing through presented that way.
I loved the three prompts at the end of each daily reading: Summarise the reading in a couple of sentences, How does the reading convict and encourage you, How does it clarify your understanding of the gospel?
I find these prompts really helpful as they encourage me to spend time thinking very specifically about what I’ve just read, rather than making generic notes and moving on. I hope more studies have these types of questions going forward.
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Leigh Bardugo – Siege and Storm
It will be impossible to write this review without spoilers, so don’t read if you don’t want to risk it!
After the ending of the first book in the series, I don’t think I even waited before picking up this one, I was so eager to know what happened to Alina and Mal.
What I didn’t expect was for their time together to go bad so quickly – less than 20 pages in and things were going south pretty quickly. I was so angry, I just wanted them to have chance to be happy together first!
Alina and Mal are on the search for the second amplifier to give them a chance to defeat the darkling, but no sooner have they found the second amplifier than they find out there’s a third one!
But can Mal and Alina stay together when they want such different things?! And what about Captain Sturmhond, is he a friend or a foe? His ideas seem very risky but I can’t tell if that’s calculated or foolhardy.
I was so gripped by what was happening to Alina and Mal that I got to three quarters through the book and then realised that it didn’t seem like there was much time for a dramatic ending.
But Alina was much cleverer than I am and the ending was definitely not what I expected – I think my jaw may have dropped as I was reading.
I desperately need to know what’s going to happen now – will they all escape from the tunnels? Will Alina and Mal finally end up together? I need to know!
This book was much more political than the first book. Less of a battle of powers and more posturing and scheming, I’ll be interested to see if the final book goes back the other way.
Fab book, not quite as exciting as the first one, but brilliant nonetheless!
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Leigh Bardugo – Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo has been on my Waterstones wish list for ages, but has been one of those authors where I’ve always thought ‘maybe next time’….
That is, until I watched the first episode of the new Shadow and Bone series on Netflix and I immediately knew I was going to need to read them first so I could make the world my own before being shown what someone else thought it was like.
I’m struggling to write anything coherent about this book without giving away major spoilers so I’m just going to say if you don’t want to spoil the plot, definitely don’t read on, but just know that I would recommend this book 110%. Enthralling, exciting, a complete escape from reality on a wet and windy weekend.
I’m now starting to wish I’d read this book before, I was hooked from the very first page. The author had thrown in so many plot twists that I thought I was going to get whiplash. Every time I thought I had an idea of what was coming next…BAM. It certainly kept me on my toes and made me compulsively keep reading – the whole book was devoured in a matter of hours.
I loved Alina’s character from the get go, and straight away I knew I wanted her to end up with Mal, her childhood friend who she knows she loves, but who doesn’t seem to feel the same way. But then enters the Darkling, and all of a sudden I’m conflicted. He’s dark (obvs) and mysterious and I feel like he would make a good partner for Alina as she gets to grips with her new-found powers.
But the course of true love in a fantasy novel never did run smooth, and just when Alina gets her tenderest yet most exciting moment with the Darkling yet, BAM, another plot twist, and the biggest one yet.
I may have raged when that plot twist hit because I was so sure that Alina was on the right path and this twist sent her about as far in the opposite direction as possible, but the one good thing was that (after quite an epic journey) she ended up reunited with Mal again. My heart just about melted when I read this part: “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.” Swoon.
I loved the style of this book, the plot was extremely fast paced, but not at the expense of fully developed characters, and scene-setting that was so spot-on that I felt like I was there with them. The book played like a movie in my head and I was just so glad I bought the whole trilogy at once because if I’d had to wait to find out what happened next after the explosive way the book ended, I might have screamed!
I can’t wait for book two to find out what happens to Alina and Mal now that they’re sailing off the edge of their known world. I need to know what happened to the Darkling (I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him), and I need to know what is going to happen to Ravka. So. So Good.
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Jojo Moyes – The Giver of Stars
You know a book is good when you just completely forget that you’re reading. And I read this entire book in a single day because I was so enthralled by the story and the world created within.
Set in the 1930s, Alice is a young British woman who has just married a gorgeous American man and moved across the world to a small town in Kentucky. She thinks she’s the luckiest girl in the world, but when they get to Kentucky, things don’t quite go as she had planned.
Alice and Bennett move in with Bennett’s father, Mr Van Cleve, and their relationship is strained to say the least. As soon as they get home, Bennett seems to lose interest in poor Alice, leaving her isolated and alone.
Enter Marjery. A ‘forceful’ woman living outside of society’s expectations. She’s running a mobile library project that delivers library books to remote homes in the Kentucky mountains, a project which doesn’t really have the support of the whole town. And when Alice decides to get involved, let’s just say that Mr Van Cleve is non too pleased.
Speaking of Mr Van Cleve, he’s a downright bully. The kind of man that doesn’t take any nonsense from women, who is used to shouting loudly to get his own way, and if that doesn’t work he’ll use whatever underhand tactics he needs to, but he must get what he wants.
What follows is a tale of true sisterhood, of the fact that women are stronger together, and how these women in particular were not afraid to fight for what is right. and for each other.
I have to say, when I ordered this book, I saw it was by Jojo Moyes and assumed it would be another book on a similar vein to Me Before You and it’s sequels, so I was most suprised when I was dropped into 1930s Kentucky.
At first I didn’t thing I was going to get along with the story, but the characters were written with such depth that it didn’t take long before I was emotionally invested in their lives. And the way that the author described the town and the scenery that the women take in on their horseback travels. I could have been there with them, and truly felt like I was.
If you’re expecting a book that’s fluffy and romantic and without trial, this isn’t the book for you. It was challenging, eye opening, and multiple times I was left feeling like I could cry. Don’t let that put you off though, it was totally worth it for the joy of learning about and getting to know these wonderful women.
Although the women themselves weren’t real, I was surprised to learn the packhorse library was a real thing – I’d never heard of it before but what an amazing project to ensure that even the most remote homes in America could have the privilege of reading.
I think Jojo Moyes could fast be becoming one of my favourite authors, what a superb book.
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Simon Reynolds – Lighten Our Darkness
This book was requested from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
This short but packed book is a guide to Choral Evensong, giving insight into the structure and elements of the service, along with detailed history of each of those parts.
I think I’ve only been to one Choral Evensong service before when I was at St Paul’s in London, and I have to admit I didn’t really ‘get it’.
But now I’ve read this book, all I want to do is go and sit and hear everything I’ve read about. Given Covid-lockdowns, I think I may either have to be patient or join online, but I think it needs to be done.
Even though the book was only short, I was impressed with how much detail the author went into. I previously knew nothing about the origins of the service but each chapter gave you context for that part of the service, be it the readings, the canticles, the anthem.
I feel like I learned so much, but rather than being dry and boring, the author also spoke with such warmth and passion throughout the book that it was hard to not take that on myself, it was truly fascinating.
Rather than a service that feels out of touch and old-fashioned, the book makes it clear that this service is perfect for today’s times, a way to reflect and connect with God in a way that isn’t offered by any other aspect of life.
Having learnt so much through this book, there’s really too much to share, but I did like the fact that my hometown got a mention in the fact that until 2016 Leeds Minster was the only parish church in England to maintain daily choral evensong!
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 