The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything by Kara Gnodde

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

2/5 stars

CW: suicide

Mimi lives with her brother, accomplished mathematician Art, but she's feeling lonely. Art comes up with an algorithm to get her the best result on a dating app, both of which are soon forgotten when she meets Frank at a mathematics awards that Art has dragged her to. To Mimi Frank seems perfect, Art is not so sure.

This was very slow going and the plot feels thin. Apart from the relationship drama Art is working on some kind of famous maths problem which if proven could cause a lot of trouble and then there's the trauma around their parents deaths.

There are points where not a lot seems to happen and I almost DNFd several times. I kind of wish I had because the overall pay off is not there. I just found this book underwhelming overall.

Steff Out x

Keep Him Close by Emily Koch

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

2/5 stars

Alice's son Lou has just died following a night out. Indigo's son Kane has confessed to killing him but is that the truth?

Alice finds herself getting close to Indigo, first by accident when she visits the library where Alice works but then she deliberately orchestrates further meetings. Indigo herself refuses to believe her boy has done wrong, is she right or is she blinded by a mother's love?

I kept reading because I wanted to know the truth. Neither of our main female characters are particularly likable, Alice is cold and judgemental and Indigo is fussy and obsessed with everything containing radiation. The plot is thin and weak and everything takes way too long to be resolved and when it is it makes the ending weak.

Steff Out x 

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

 

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley. Thank you.

2/5 stars

Josephine Morrow is Girl One of Nine. She was the first to be born as part of Dr Joseph Bellanger's experiments with parthogenesis or solo birth. Her mother, Margaret, and the other mothers all lived with Joseph at a place known as the Homestead until a fire claimed the lives of Joseph and the youngest child, Fiona.

Now years later Josie, following in Joseph's footsteps and studying reproductive science, is semi-estranged from her mother but then she hears of an incident. Margaret's house has burned down and she is missing. Josie finds a notebook that implies Margaret was more interested in the others than she let on so with the help of journalist, Tom, whom Margaret contacted, Josie sets out to find her.

The concept of this was so interesting although I didn't really understand the choice of the time period chosen (the births took place in the late 70s and the story is set in the 90s) but the execution was such a letdown. The whole story is tell tell tell. Each vital bit of information is given by another character telling a story. There is very little show. Also the ending??? What the hell was that??? To put it bluntly there was no ending. It just stopped.

Steff Out x 

The Warehouse by Rob Hart

Ebook previously provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

2/5 stars

Set in a non-specified but possibly not too distant future where Cloud *cough*Amazon*cough* is everything. They have squashed small businesses and are pretty much the only option. MotherCloud is where people live and work in various departments from picking to security to medical care.

We follow Gibson, the founder of Cloud, terminally ill and set to announce his replacement, Paxton a former prison guard whose small business was killed by Cloud and Zinnia who has her own agenda.

So I knew early on that this book wasn't going to be gripping enough to be a four star rating because the nature of their jobs - Paxton as security and Zinnia as a picker - was very monotonous and the narrative deliberately played on that monotony but I was feeling a 3 star for a good long while until the last quarter or so. Not a lot happened and then everything happened very quickly without warning, there were elements that could have been taken further, the "big reveal" was underwhelming, we never learn Zinnia's motivation and the ending was very abrupt.

Steff Out x

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

 

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

2/5 stars

This book felt confused as to what it wanted to be. It read a lot like a crime thriller, especially in the sections from the cop's point of view (also either refer to her as Jo/Joanna or pick a surname that isn't a common first name, I would get confused whenever her first name was mentioned because Harper so often is a first name) but then there's all this stuff about changelings at the beginning of most chapters.

As for Lauren I really wanted her to officially ditch her useless, unsupportive husband. He was definitely having an affair even if he didn't admit it.

The changeling stuff would have been better if they'd gone into more detail about it and done more research, it was just there and barely. It all felt very vague and incomplete and even the ending wasn't really an ending, it just stopped and it didn't feel like much had changed.

Steff Out x

The Wilderness Retreat by Jennifer Moore

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

2/5 stars

Bella's only son Asher has just started university so her sister has treated her to a holiday in Sweden at a Wilderness Retreat to help with the "empty nest".

Being so far from her son Bella is on edge from the start, especially when the retreat is declared phone free. Things aren't helped by a note pushed under her door shortly after her arrival: "I know what you did." Tension grows with the arrival of someone from Bella's past...

Honestly this book was 70% of Bella's apparently baseless paranoia and nothing to move the story along. There wasn't enough tension and I can't say I learned enough about Bella as a character (beyond her almost obsessive mother side) to really care about her.

The "payoff" if you can call it that was disappointing and you put if the blue. Also the initial setup of getting Bella there seemed highly implausible and ridiculous.

Overall a disappointing read with bland characters and not enough use of the setting. A change of location would not have affected the story one bit.

Steff Out x 

The Dragons Are In by Briany Barnes

 

2/5 stars

A story with no build-up.

The fairies are just living their lives, one of our main characters, Azula, visits her dragon foster parents, and then travelling fairy Garnet visits and tells them all about the towns plan to chop down part of the forest to build a new road.

The fairies then decide to crash the town meeting and find out more and maybe influence some good humans into stopping it. Those good humans are some travellers living nearby. They fail on this instance and the trees are gone. The fairies continue communicating with one traveller girl, Melanie, who runs a local gift shop. Their presence improves the shop's prospects.

On the other side the developer in charge of chopping the trees down has his three kids staying with him for the summer holidays, he and his daughter Lucy don't see eye to eye. An argument pushes her away and she makes friends with Melanie and her friends.

The story was pleasant enough but didn't connect very well, and things seemed too easily resolved. There's no stakes. On the technical side speech was very formal, even amongst children and in relationships. There wasn't always a lot of distinction between scenes and characters would be introduced out of nowhere. Definitely could have done with at least another round of beta readers and editing.

Stef Out x

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

 

2/5 stars

According to the amount of 5 star reviews on Goodreads this is a really popular book and to be honest I'm not totally sure why.

I hated the writing style. The way it was written was very tell rather than show. You can show that someone is poor and ill-educated in ways other than near illiterate writing. It made it hard for me to follow what was going on. Especially with all the references of Mr. — rather than using his actual surname.

The book seemed violent just for the sake of it. That opening chapter felt like trauma porn. You can indicate that she is a young person going through rape a lot less graphically. It wasn't necessary and it didn't add anything to the story. Then there were the beatings. We know that in those days men often hit their wives but did we need so many references to it? Also Sofia's excessive violence didn't make any sense.

I also didn't particularly care much about Nettie's letters, other than the fact that they were easier to read. She was an absent character for half the book and now we're supposed to care about all her ins and outs and missionary work. Sorry but not me.

I did like that Celie grew throughout the book and eventually started her own business and had her happy ending.

Stef Out x

The Whole Truth by Cara Hunter

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

2/5 stars

To start with I disliked the chapterless style and Adam's diary entries lacked distinction. I could tell when they started due to the date/time stamp but the end transition could be better.

On to the story. We have two unconnected cases, one of a college professor accused of sexual assault by her male student. The other a murder of a woman that may or may not be connected to a historic rapist.

Apparently this is the 5th book in the series based around DI Adam Fawley and to be honest you need to read the others. There's a who's who cheat sheet at the beginning but I soon forgot and the parade of surnames was a little confusing, also there were discussions about relationships etc that lacked context. Not to mention the bio mention of Adam's young son taking his own life. The writing itself was good enough that I may check out the previous books and hope they come together a little tighter than this one.

The storylines were decent though the assault case became a little convoluted by the end and it was hard to work out what the actual truth was, especially with the epilogue. Also there was an unfortunate throwaway comment at the rape clinic where one of the cops wonders how often they need the clothes to change into (after their own have been taken for evidence) in an XXL which felt very heartless because as well as demeaning the few male victims - the exact plot point of this book - it also dismisses the idea that some of the female victims being larger bodied. Rape doesn't just affect the thin.

Anyway, as for the murder case and its related bits, there was no proper conclusion. Crucial evidence was discovered and then the book ended with no solid conclusion. No arrest, no setting free of the wrongly accused. Nothing. Very disappointing.

Stef Out x

Why Can't Life be Like Pizza? by Andy V. Roamer

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

2/5 stars

CW: homophobic language, light racism

I was disappointed by this book. R.V. was not a particularly likeable character. One of two children of Lithuanian immigrant parents living in the US with his brother Ray (age unknown? Acts older but implied to be younger.) R.V. complained a lot but did nothing to fix anything. Apparently he's some kind of genius and brags about doing well in school and enjoying homework and reading difficult books. He also complained a lot about all the "Lith stuff" that his parents were involved in but I thought it was great that his parents are so in touch with their culture.

Also considering that he's pondering his own sexuality R.V.'s attitudes were quite homophobic. He was very dismissive about his teacher for being swishy, limp-wristed, femme and having a high voice. Said teacher is not even confirmed to be gay at this point. That comes later after a homophobia based attack which is then brushed off. No mention of reporting it or anything.

Overall I just found this book flat and boring. The diary style doesn't work particularly well, why would you explain stuff about your language and culture that you already know in your own diary? Also the ending was very abrupt, I guess to get people to read the sequel. Sorry but book one did not draw me in enough to warrant reading the second.

Stef Out x

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

 

2/5 stars

I liked the characters and the plot was interesting but I felt like there were too many things being juggled and some got dropped. They were originally going to talk to Ayana but then her storyline got all but abandoned. They made a massive thing about Marnie having tattoos and they may have been seen by the wrong person but I didn't understand the relevance of the tattoos and them being seen by this person was forgotten.

Also the writing style itself could use a bit of pruning. Near the beginning a character's only description was "obese girl in a black tracksuit". Are you telling me there was no better way to describe her than that? It feels very dehumanising. Also Marnie was referred to as a child as living in "near-autistic" silences. That just made me cringe. A lot of autistic people are not silent. And then there was the chapter opening where two or three sentences were used to describe thunder. The "then" and "now" chapters could have been clearer. The ending felt very rushed as well.

Stef Out x 

To Dare by Jemma Wayne

 

I found this quite a dull book really. I kept expecting more from it. Instead I got tasteless descriptions of a violent beating and wholly unlikeable characters.

Sarah in particular annoyed me. Blaming Veronica for her sister's death when she wasn't even involved. The issues that led to it may have been caused by Veronica but I feel that there was enough years for Sarah to have gotten help for her issues.

The ending was very disappointing. Very rushed and a lot of lack of clarity. I was surprised when I noticed I was near the end of the book because I felt like there was still so much to cover. Even now I'm unsure of what really happened.

2/5 stars

Stef Out x

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

 

I was hovering between 2 and 3 stars for this book. At one point I wasn't even sure whether I was going to continue at all. This whole only "dating" Katherines thing was just too weird and unbelievable. And I put "dating" in quotes because when he went through the story of all of them I'd hardly count several as dating. In my mind a few hours hanging out is not dating.

Then the maths. I can't do maths to save my life. That is probably a literal thing. I can imagine being in a life-threatening situation and even struggling with 1+1=2. It took me three attempts to pass my maths GCSE at school. I am 30 years old and I still don't know my times tables - a problem quoted on my school report pretty much every single year, that and my shoddy attendance. Anyway the maths. Colin kept on yanking me out of the story just to drone on about some kind of dumping related theory. Just shut up.

As for the story... There wasn't a lot of it. Half-Jewish boy goes on a road trip to nowhere with his Muslim best friend (who seemed... Not the best written) using cash he won on a TV show for smart kids yet he's definitely not a genius. They meet a girl (who is the only half-decent character) and get hired by her mum to record old people's stories about the town. We also have some other kids who are mostly only referred to as initials e.g. TOC is The Other Colin. The others I forgot a page after they were explained. There's also a random bit of pig-hunting and not long after it just ends. There's no defined resolution.

2/5 Stars

Stef Out x

All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

Read August 2020

I honestly found this book disappointing. We follow Helvetica, known as Vetty, named for her late mother's obsession with fonts. We open with her hanging out with friends feeling awkward about something we only find out about at the very end of the book. We start to get to know this group (sort of) and then hey presto we're moving home, somehow to the exact same house/flat as before. Three years later. In London. I'm not a Londoner and even I know that wouldn't happen. Also sidenote but Somerset is way too vague, It's a massive county, I live in a Northern bit of it, it would be nice to have a point of reference: Taunton, Cheddar, Minehead, Bridgewater? Give me something!

I didn't really understand why Vetty cut Pez off, surely even a distant friend can help you grieve?  The way his friends were introduced was a little hard to follow. Some scenes throughout the book were rushed and I'd have to re-read passages to work out who was saying what.

The themes and what the book wanted to say were also unclear for me. It talked candidly about porn, masturbation and hair removal but Vetty got weird about telling er sister about periods and refused to consider even the existence of the word "bisexual" until the end of the book despite it being obvious to me at the beginning. i'm sad that things with the girl (avoiding spoilers) didn't work out. Instead we get the implied beginning of a straight-passing relationship. Overall pacing and plot were messy and I found the book disappointing.

2/5 stars

Stef Out x