Quickfire Reviews is a thing I do very sporadically when
there are books to talk about that I should have reviewed but haven’t.
Sometimes I didn’t like these books enough to want to review them; sometimes I loved them but time got away from me;
and sometimes, less is just more. Also it’s something a bit different which is
what I am all about this year – being more than just review after review.
So here we have it, grab a KitKat and settle down.
What’s it About? Sam and
Ilsa – twins – have spent their high school lives throwing legendary dinner
parties at their Grandmother’s apartment. Graduation is looming which means one
thing: time for one last dinner party. Told over one night, this is the story
of Sam and Ilsa’s last hurrah. The clue is in the name, guys.
What I liked It’s cute
this book, and we all know how much I love a good YA coming of age story. Sam
and Ilsa – Sam in particular – were interesting characters and I was really
fascinated by their whole dynamic. Also it reminded me a little bit of Gossip Girl. Ilsa was so Blair in my
head.
What I liked Less
It felt
a little bit try-to-hard-to-be-quirky which surprised me because I am a big fan
of David Levithan usually. The pacing was off and it felt under-developed,
like, the things that really caught my interest weren’t explored as much as I’d
hoped they might be. I wanted more of Sam and Ilsa, frankly, everything else
felt like distracting window dressing.
What’s it About? The one
thing Eden has always been sure of in life is her best friend – solid,
dependable, straight A Bonnie. So it’s a bit weird when Bonnie disappears just
before their GSCE’s with a boyfriend Eden never knew she had. Especially when
it turns out that boyfriend is their teacher and everyone – police included –
are trying to find her. Eden knows where she is, and she knows she should
probably tell, but how do you betray your best friend like that.
What I liked I really
really liked this book. It’s so refreshing actually to read a book that doesn’t
glamourise student/teacher relationships because let’s be real here: a teacher
dating a GSCE aged student is morally reprehensible. I mean, I firmly believe
age is irrelevant when both parties are
consenting adults – the guy I’m seeing is older than me and I LOVE that
about him, but that’s the thing isn’t it. I’m not 16; I’m 35. So often in teen
fiction these relationships are romanticised and it’s wrong. That doesn’t
happen here – this book is to the point, brutally honest and explores the
intensity of love – romantic and platonic – as well as cleverly delving into
the dangers of grooming. Eden is an excellent protagonist, perfect for this
story – loyal, awkward, far from perfect and with her own issues. It was so interesting to watch this whole thing
develop through her eyes, to watch her make mistakes and try to figure things
out. I loved her, flaws and all.
What I liked Less There
were a lot of side stories that I loved and would have liked more of, which
seems weird because the book wasn’t really about those things, but still, they
were mentioned which meant it bugged me that they weren’t fully delved into –
Eden’s little sister for example, or her boyfriend and his role as a caretaker.
Don’t tease me with these really interesting plot points and not go anywhere
with them. Also it was a little repetitive. & I’m never a fan of the idea
that the ‘good kids’ are somehow missing out on the necessary life experiences.
LIES LIES AND DAMN LIES.
What’s it About? Am I the
last person in the world to read this? This is Eleanor Oliphant’s story – her
social skills are somewhat lacking, she avoids social interactions and spends
the time she’s not at her 9-5 office job where her colleagues think she’s
weird, drinking vodka and eating pizza and she is fine with that, until quite by accident she runs into a completely
undesirable man from her office in the street and helping save an old man who’s
fallen on the pavement and starts to realise what it means to have friends.
What I liked Feelings. I
has them. This book is really realy good. It’s been getting all the hype; it
deserves it. I was not ready for this book, and I was not fine after finishing
it because OH MY, MY HEART. I was not warned and I was not ready. This book is
profound and it is beautiful and it is so
worth a read. It’s quite extraordinary, really.
What I liked Less the
supporting cast. Eleanor was fabulous, Raymond pretty good…everyone else though
kind of fell by the wayside and that made me sad.
What’s it About? In a
nutshell it’s a portrait of black Londonders in the wake of Obama’s election
victory and follows two couples, set to John Legend’s Ordinary People album,
which by the way is a clever way to write a book and also an excellent album.
What I liked It’s smart
this book, and well written – the writing is lyrical and put me in mind of Jon
McGregor at first, I had If Nobody Speaks
of Remarkable Things flashbacks which was super. It started out really
well, I loved the premise and I loved the opening and the set up. So pretty, I
couldn’t read it fast enough. I also – at first
- loved the John Legend references, mostly because I have listened to
that album a lot.
What I liked Less It was
too much, too long. It got samey and it didn’t know what it was and got a
little bit lost in itself and I did, I’m afraid to say, get a little bit bored.
I forced myself onwards because I’d liked it so much to start but it did get a
bit overwhelmed by its own self. More show less tell would have been good too,
always more show and less tell.
What’s it About? A
young girl growing up in Harlem with a
fiercely religious mother and not much clue as to where she fits in the world discovers
slam poetry and slowly slowly comes to learn that she deserves to be heard.
What I liked Oh man, this
book. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read and somehow feels really familiar.
Stories told through verse is something I need more of in my life – if any of
you have any recs then throw them at me
- it’s a love story to poetry, it’s a raw and honest look at growing up
oppressed by something you’re not sure you really believe in, it’s a tender
look at a first love, it touches on rape culture and self-love and body-shaming
and feminism and religion and it’s not even very long. It’s clever and its
beautiful and it’s really quick and easy to read. And I did not expect to like
it as much as I did. And it left me wanting to know more about slam poetry too.
What I liked Less Again,
it’s a character issue and I actually really get why it is this way but reading
this book is a very intimate and insular experience: you only really get to
connect with Xiomara and other people – namely her Mother who fascinated the
life out of me – are never fully realised.
What’s it About? The final
story in the PS I Still Love You
trilogy and Lara Jean and Peter are the cutest ever, her Dad has a boyfriend
and she’s getting ready to finish up her senior year and go to college. Life
should be peachy, right?
What I liked God I am so
not the target market for these books but oh
how I love them. They are so easy
to read and so lovely and I just want to smush everybody together and cuddle
them. Lara Jean is so adorable and I
love the thing she has going on with Peter,
Kitty is the sassiest little kid you ever met, theres so much talk of cookies,
and it’s just such a happy place to spend a few hours. I’m sad this whole thing
is over, truth be told. I’d totally read book 4.
What I liked Less Enough
of the Peter/Lara Jean will they won’t they already. We had that in book two
and it hurt my heart then. Also Trina was a minor character in book two and now
suddenly she’s this big important person and it jarred a little.
What’s it About? The first
in a new trilogy by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher. Fifty years ago, women stopped
giving birth to boys. The human race is on the brink of distinction until an
elderly couple give birth to a daughter, Eve. Flash forward 16 years and Eve
just wants to be a teenage girl but that’s kind of hard when the fate of the
human race is on your shoulders. Three potential males have been selected and
it’s going to be up to her to provide the females the world really needs. She’s
always been kind of ok with that. But then there is Bram. Is it selfish to
choose love over the fate of actual humanity?
What I liked It’s clever
and different and intriguing. And kind of unputdownable; I read it in a day
over the bank holiday. I am such a sucker for a good dystopia and I love when somebody
finds a twist on that, that hasn’t been done to death. I enjoyed the split narrative,
that we got both Eve and Bram’s take on things and they were both clear and
interesting characters. Eve perhaps a little moreso than Bram. Their individual
voices were really distinct too; I wondered if Giovanna and Tom had written one
of them each – I’d love to know their writing process on this book actually –
and even though a lot of the story centres around the miniscule part of the
world Eve has been allowed to see, we still got enough of a hint of the outside
world to imagine what was going on out there. Despite a slow part in the
middle, I flew through this book and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next.
What I liked Less There’s
the fact it really did get slow in the middle, it’s repetitive too and a lot of
time was spent going over and over Eve and Bram’s feelings for each other that wish had been spent getting into the nitty
gritty of the story. Things I really wanted answers to seemed to be glossed over
so a couple of times I was left thinking ‘but
how did that happen, though’ and there was a lot of tell and not enough
show and whilst I appreciate that it might not have been the story they wanted
to tell, I felt like there were quite a lot of missed opportunities: there’ve
been no women born for 50 years so let’s talk about gender roles; women are
kept away from men because men cannot be trusted to control themselves so let’s
talk about rape culture and gender (in)equality and so on and so forth. As
ever, I am greedy, all the time, for more.
