Plan Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Read March 2022. Borrowed from the library but also own as an ebook thanks to NetGalley.

3/5 stars

Dual timeline told in alternating chapters. Half is set in 1902 where Libbie is running a girls school with her partner Alex when a diary of a girl named Mary MacLane starts making its rounds. What follows is tragedy and creepiness. And a lot of yellow jacket wasps 😬

The other half is set in the present day where a horror movie is being made about Brookhants School's tragic past. It girl Harper Harper is one of the co-leads and is also co-producing. Aubrey is a former child star whose role in the film has suddenly changed. Merritt is the writer of the book about the original tragedy that is now the basis for this film.

So firstly this book is super queer. Like 99% of the female characters have a same sex leaning. Harper is named lesbian, Aubrey is bi, not sure what Merritt is and the historical sections introduced me to the term "Boston Marriage" wherein two women (whether romantically inclined or not) would live together in order to achieve careers and independence uncommon for the time.

I thought that it was interesting and creepy but the novel was too long (over 600 pages) and too slowly paced. A lot could have been cut in my opinion. Also the ending was very abrupt. I've seen reviews saying it could have been a duology: the historical story and then the modern one. That would allow for the detail without being overlong.

Stef Out x 

Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins

 

Read February 2022. Borrowed from the library.

5/5 stars

I read this in two sittings and it could have been one but I needed to get to bed. I loved this book! The characters were amazing, Felipé was so relatable for I too am a fat, socially awkward gay. And like Felipé my school bullying was directed towards my weight rather than anything sexuality based. Sigh.

I loved the development of both the boy's characters and the growth of their relationship. I also loved Caio's friends and I wish we'd had more of them. I just wanted more story in general, 15 days was just not enough!

Stef Out x

After the End by Clare Mackintosh

 

Read January/February 2022. Book I owned but since donated.

3/5 stars

This was a very strange book. Pip and Max are a married couple whose 3 year old son, Dylan, has cancer. It soon comes to a point that it's time to choose what to do next. Pip and Max sadly disagree on what to do and a court case soon comes.

What follows is a Sliding Doors-esque alternating chapter dual narrative following each outcome after the trial.

The layout change did confuse me for a moment but it was kind of interesting to see the similarities/differences between the two futures.

There was one character who we got to know who was then dropped which was frustrating and then the ending was a bombshell and an unexplained cliffhanger all in one which annoyed me.

I do like the author's writing style though, I didn't twig until I checked GoodReads that I had already read a book by her, the other was Let Me Lie which comes under thriller and this was domestic drama.

Also interestingly I found this at work and then re-donated it back there after I'd read it and then today while looking for a book for a book stack photo on Instagram (@owls_rainbow) I found a copy on my shelf! So that one will go to work as well as it's not one I see myself re-reading.

Stef Out x

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

 

Book I own. Read January 2022.

5/5 stars

This is a book that doesn't hold back and it feels like such a necessary read.

All white people should read this and especially white men. Stop fetishizing black women, stop using and abusing them.

I loved Queenie, she was strong but in a fragile way. I loved her growth throughout and how she gradually realised that she needed help and accepted it. I really appreciated that it showed the divide in family attitudes towards getting help.

Her friends were a great mix but I hated Cassandra and her lack of faith in her supposed best friend!

Overall I loved this book but it's a difficult one to review. The summary is just read it.

Stef Out x

Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge

 

4/5 stars

CW: small amount of transphobic language, misgendering and use of outdated terms.

This was so nearly a 5 star book! The story was ever so gripping and drew me in straight away.

Pairs of victims are being kidnapped, held in a secure location and starved. They are left a gun with a single bullet and an instruction to kill or be killed.

The DI on the case - Helen Grace - is a strong, stoic character who is struggling to find the reason behind the crime. Soon another pair appears, seemingly unconnected to the first but clearly the same perpetrator, and unusually a woman!

I loved all the different points of view and the descriptiveness of the author's writing. The characters and story were engaging and the pacing was good overall but the ending was seriously lacking.

The killer's explanation was vague and sparse, I had to guess her motives and even then I'm unsure overall.

I did appreciate the overall reveal though. But after the killer is apprehended everything just stops and that's it, the book is over.

There was an extract from the next book in my copy which picks up a short time after and presumably gives a lot more of the aftermath, so it's disappointing that it's not included in this book. However I enjoyed it enough to seek out more in the series.

Stef Out x

Seven Days by Alex Lake

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

4/5 stars

Read November 2021

In seven days Maggie will lose her son because in seven days Max turns 3. 3 years old is when he takes them away. It's happened before. Twice. Maggie has been held captive by him for 12 years now.

This was so nearly a 5 star book. I loved the set-up, I loved the multiple points of view, seeing how things developed over the years. The writing was descriptive and emotional, a great study in humanity and how differently people can react to a missing family member.

There was one part of the plot that I initially thought was a red herring becasue it was revealed so early but as the novel unfolded the reasoning became clearer and it worked so well!

My main criticism was that it ended very quickly. It felt like the author was given a maximum page/word count that they couldn't go over so everything was tied up a little too quickly in my opinion. I wanted more of the "after" and how it was going back into real life.

Stef Out x

Madness by Paityn Parque

Ebook provided by the author for review. Thank you.

Read November 2021

3/5 stars

Firstly, apologies it has taken me so long to type this up. I finished the book, hand-wrote the review in a notebook and then life got in the way a little bit.

Ezra is a normal student until the night that she's murdered. Anyone would think that this is it but then Ezra wakes up. She's in a strange game called the Battles. It's kill or be killed, and if you are killed you just come back.

I was reading this in chunks spaced quite far apart so that may have affected my opinion but to begin with I wasn't sure what to rate this. There was a lot of action but that action could be repetitive: scout, kill, sleep, occasionally shower or train, though rarely eat.

I understand that while in the game past lives and interests are pretty irrelevant but it still would have been nice to have learned more about the characters as we went along. They generally lacked distinction for me and kind of blurred together. Also time, was time still passing outside? Have the kids disappeared completely or were they found comatose in their own beds? I wanted more detail.

The feats overall were a nice addition although I'd like to know more about them and how they're allocaed, but maybe that's covered in the sequel. I did think the reveal around Jack's feat was a bit abrupt, and a bit rushed. I still don't really understand it.

The ending however was very gripping and sets up perfectly for a sequel. Hopefully we find out more about the origins and the mechanics of the game itself.

Also overall the writing was very good, no obviously clunky phrasing, smooth to read, though a lot of sneering going on in the last quarter or so.

Stef Out x