good reads

Three Books About Love You Need in Your Life.

February 14, 2023 — Leave a comment

I’m writing this under a Valentines Day guise, but the truth is I’ve spent all day crying hormonal tears and really, I just wanted an excuse to write about these books of which all have a common theme – love. And while it’s true that love is the common denominator here, each novel takes a unique and exploratory look into different kinds of love. From forced together love that grows from dust, lost love, love for pets, love for hobbies, and of course – all consuming, romantic love. Each story gave me a different take on love, set the hairs at the back of my neck on end and left me deep in my thoughts for days after.

Love Marriage – Monica Ali

Spoiler Alert! TW: Book includes discussions on dysfunctional familial relationships. Addiction, Sexual assault and childhood illness.

Ok, so the above spoilers don’t read as though this is a book about love, but I can assure you, it is. First up is author of Brick Lane Monica Ali’s Love Marriage. Sorry to be the bearer of ills but- if you’re expecting this to be a romantic fairytale of the perfect love marriage tableau, I’m afraid to say you’re going to be disappointed. Instead what this book offers goes much, much deeper.

Love Marriage follows the lives of interracial couple Yasmin and Joe. Yasmin is a twenty four year old junior doctor. She’s engaged to be married to Joe but is still living at home with her Indian parents and brother Arif. Joe, a first year resident gynaecologist also lives at home with his mother, writer and activist Harriet Sangster. Yasmin believes she and Joe are destined for happy ever after. She’s so glad she decided to choose her own fate in a Love Marriage, not dissimilar to that of her own parents. That is until she realises her parents are hiding untold secrets of their own that will shatter her world as she knows it.

Meanwhile Joe is in therapy for sex addiction, Arif is about to have a baby with a white woman out of wedlock, and Yasmin finds comfort in forbidden places as she embarks on a journey of confronting self discovery.

This book is pure soul food! Enlightening, believable and raw. Ali writes with such passion Love Marriage will have you crying with laughter, sadness and a visceral joy. The meaning of life is wrapped up in these pages. An intelligent and addictive take on love in all relationships. Power dynamics are explored, feelings analysed and loyalty tested to its absolute limit – if you start reading it now, I guarantee you’ll be cancelling Valentine’s Day plans in favour of turning pages!

Cat Lady Dawn O’Porter

Spoiler Alert! Contains reference to suicide, grief, poor mental health and marriage breakdown.

The Queen of contemporary fiction does it again! Back with a bang and purr. The thing I love the most about a Dawn O’Porter book is the storylines never read the same. There’s no same same but different with a DOP novel. Each one is it’s own unique reading experience.

Married stepmother Mia’s life is a lie. Sure, on the outside it looks as though she has it all but deep down she’s falling apart, like the rest of us. Grief is what leads Mia to the group of bereaved pet owners, but it isn’t grief for a pet. It’s a tangible grief for a life lost, a marriage in pieces and a longing for her dead mother. It’s loneliness and a love of cats.

Dawn O’Porter’s ability to write two sides of a personality is my opinion unrivalled. You’re lured into a false sense of hero worshipping only to be plunged into reality when the antagonist reveals their exponential flaws. Mia’s journey is a brutally honest reminder that everyone makes mistakes, none of us are perfect and a cat is never just a cat. This is a tale of self love, unexplainable love and love that is truly unconditional. It’ll make you laugh and cry in the same paragraph, a real pleasure. Despite some hard hitting topics Cat Lady is written with humour and sensitivity, an easy book to devour.

After I Do – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Spoiler Alert! Nothing too triggering in this one, but references to sex and grief are present.

After I do came back with a republish in January this year and it was a long anticipated wait for me. I’d read a sample from the previous edition and then found myself not able to download the whole book. However, I can say it was very much worth the wait. Is it even a romance novel if TJR didn’t write it?

Lauren and Ryan have had enough. One can barely tolerate being in the room with the other. It gets so bad that they lose themselves in the monotony and the sniping. They decide to walk away, end their marriage and start over – but only for a year.

It’s the ultimate test and a little unbelievable, though isn’t that exactly what we ask for in a love story? Modern The Notebook vibes, California sunshine and all heart. This book had me relating so hard I was ready to file for divorce, until I got to the end. I felt every word and the pages were full of authenticity and magic. I love every single one of Taylor’s books, but this one will keep a special place in my heart.

You can thank me for these jewels later. Get the tissues ready, you’ll need them. Be prepared to absorb yourself in each story, clear your schedules, read at every opportunity and enjoy! 📚

Diva Reads June

July 9, 2020 — Leave a comment

So this was a funny old month for me and I spent a lot of it in a not so great, head space. My reading often reflects my mood and can also alter it to some extent. June was also a month that saw me binge watching a lot more TV than usual, to be honest I rarely watch tele but when I do I go in hard. I spent a whole day in June binge watching Station19 and ugly crying. It was pretty epic to be fair.

Back to books.

I finally read June’s House21 book club read of Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare. It was a perfect palette cleanser, and everything you expect from chick lit. The protagonist Tiffy is a typical girl next door, a bit geeky and out there along with utterly likeable. Tiffy shares a flat with Leon, they also share a bed, but not at the same time, at least not initially. Their love affair begins with post it notes in an unordinary, archaic fashion. Later when they finally meet in real life it’s a typical, happily ever after scenario and I loved it.

BA Paris – Behind Closed Doors.

This book was a real disappointment to be honest. I was expecting great things being a psychological thriller fan but I’m loathe to say it didn’t deliver. Tricked into marrying the worlds most sadistic man, Grace rushes into a marriage before she’s even seen the house she’s going to spend the rest of her life in. There was very little back story on why her psycho husband Jack was indeed a psycho, and it generally failed me as a reader. I also felt like the Author’s reference to the vulnerability of Grace’s sister Millie who has down syndrome was quite misinformed and bordered on offensive in parts. I’ve heard good things about other BA books though, and for this reason I’m willing to try another at a later stage. If you’re interested in predictable badly narrated domesticity this might suit you well. It didn’t me, unfortunately.

Alex Michaelides – The Silent Patient

I loved this book right up until the last few chapters. The protagonist Theo is an interesting and believable character who narrates the book from his point of view. He’s a therapist, married to an amateur actress. He later takes a job at The Grove a hospital for the criminally insane and his patient Alicia is incarcerated for killing her husband. She hasn’t spoken a word since her arrest. I won’t spoil the ending but I devoured this book with speed and ease, then got to the end and though – huh, that’s it? I will say it cleverly increased in suspense but the end was a little anticlimactic in my personal opinion. You can really tell my mood was low in June huh? Probably as a direct result of these mediocre books I read!

Pauline Black – Black By Design

After the death of George Flloyd I knew I needed to further my education into racism, particularly inherent racism and I wanted to go back and start at the Black Power Movement of the sixties. I’m a huge Ska fan and so it was fitting for me to read the work of one of my favourite female vocalists Pauline Black of The Selekter. What I learned from this book has blown my mind and caused me to address my own unconscious bias in a major way.

Pauline Black was a mixed race female adopted by an all white family in Romford Essex. She was the only girl with 4 brothers several much older than her. She grew up being made to play down the fact she was indeed a woman of colour. So much so, that she was ridiculed for her Afro Caribbean hair, and reminded by busybody aunties that she surely didn’t need sun lotion during a heatwave because of the tone to her skin. When she finally formed part of the Selekter with the help of both black and white friends she was part of the infamous 2Tone movement. She was also subjected to further racism at gigs and performances by 1960 Skinheads and National Front facist groups. As amazing as it is to read how Pauline became the woman she is today it left an unfading imprint in my mind of just how acutely racism and prejudice can affect a person. I still have a LOT left to learn and believe me when I say I plan to do just that. But I’m glad I started my learning with this book and would highly recommend it worth a read.

That’s about it really, I’m still feeling a little morose and not quite on top form so I’ve opted for some more lighthearted reads this month, starting with Ruth Jones, Never Greener. What a writer this woman is! This post will also be available to read over on House21 and listen out for myself and Mel who’ll be discussing our favourite reads on the House21 podcast in the coming months.

Recommended Reads #3

June 24, 2019 — Leave a comment

I promised to keep them coming.

What have I been reading the last couple of months? LOADS! I’ve been reading loads as usual. On average I get through a book in three nights.

I’ve now read all of C.L Taylor’s books and am patiently awaiting her 7th release. My favourites are definitely ‘The Missing’ ‘The Escape’ and ‘The Accident’ I liked ‘Sleep’ as I really related to the characters particularly Anna, but I found Christine’s role a bit far fetched and that kind of ruined it for me a bit. ‘The Accident’ is my most recent favourite and I could relate to Sue as both, a girl in a relationship with a narcissist and a mother, it definitely kept me guessing and I understood her battle with mental health also.

Some other good reads are ‘Watching You’ by Lisa Jewell, set in my home town of Bristol. A good twisty thriller written in a traditional English style, which you don’t come across often anymore and so it makes pleasant reading. Lisa is a powerful story teller and her thrillers always have a great protagonist.

Another of my new favourite Authors is ‘Mark North’ his first book ‘Hold My Hand’ is set between Bath and Oxford and that was what drew me in, having been born and bred in Bath I like books I can relate to in terms of geographical memory. I like to read about streets I’ve walked, I find it helps me connect. His second book ‘Keep Her Close’ is all Oxford based but equally as good. His Protagonist Josie Myers is a good strong female lead and I’m intrigued to see where her story goes in the next instalment. I do find a lot of Crime Thrillers & Cop Saga’s do tend to be samey but if it’s a genre you enjoy I would recommend this writer.

Another author who’s work I admire and I’m currently reading a book of his is Mark Edwards. Im almost at the end of ‘Follow You Home’ I love the way Mark manages to convince you of some supernatural activity before dropping the obvious explanation, making you question your own sanity for a moment or two. He did a similar thing with ‘In Her Shadow’ and I really enjoyed reading that too. Follow you home is dark and gripping making you look at the world at its worst but in an addictive and compelling way that will keep the pages turning until the very last.