Tag: Backlist Books 24

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Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2023 Squadpod Squadpod Book Club

SQUADPOD BOOK CLUB: The Maiden by Kate Foster

Published February 29th, 2024 by Mantle
Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Biographical Fiction, Domestic Fiction

It’s a bit late, but I’m finally sharing my review for The Maiden, which was our SquadPod Book Club choice for May. Thank you to Chloe at Mantle for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024

‘A masterpiece’ ― Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

‘Exceptional ― a tense, thrilling investigation, with a decidedly feminist slant‘ ― Daily Mail

Inspired by a real-life murder trial, Kate Foster’s The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history. Winner of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023.

In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess.

Only a year before, Lady Christian was newly married, leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . .

‘Riveting . . . the tension persists until the last page’ ― The Times

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MY REVIEW:

“I am struck by the power of it. Fury. Revenge. For look at the trouble it can wreak.” 

Whore. Adulteress. Murderess. These are the names used to describe Lady Christian after she is arrested for the brutal murder of her lover, James Forrester. These words hold weight, condemning Lady Christian to a sentence of death by beheading should she be found guilty of the crime. She protests her innocence. But there is a witness who claims to have seen her commit the crime. But can we trust the words of this other woman? A woman who may have her own motives for wishing Mr. Forrester harm. Which of them is telling the truth? And what really happened on that summer’s day under the sycamore tree?

Astonishing, alluring, bawdy and evocative, The Maiden is a mesmerising debut ablaze with tension, the threat of the eponymous guillotine hanging over every page. Exquisitely written and assuredly told, Kate Foster transports her reader to 17th Century Scotland, bringing it to life in detail so colourful and vivid that I could almost smell its putrid scent. I was in her thrall as she reimagined these real-life events, weaving them into an unputdownable tale of love, lust, scandal, and bloody murder.  

“Because, in the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.”

In this telling, Foster has focused on the stories of the two remarkable women at the heart of the murder trial: Lady Christian, and Violet, a former prostitute who was working as a maid for James Forrester at the time of his murder. These very different women were more similar than they first seem. Both were strong, colourful, unusual and unforgettable characters who leaped from the pages and demanded our attention. They have been used, abused and neglected by men and are fighting for survival in a patriarchal society where they hold no power. I loved reading their stories, thankful that Foster has finally given them a voice after so many years of silence. 

Moving between timelines and perspective, the story imagines what happened to these women before that dreadful day. Snippets taken from broadsheets that talk about the heinous crime and subsequent trial appear sporadically, helping to build tension. Foster avoids the day of the murder for a large chunk of the book and even then only reveals pieces of what happened. Then, as the story begins to focus on the trial, the tension rises, building into a crescendo that culminates in a finale so shocking that it left my jaw on the floor. I loved that I could never be sure if Lady Christian was guilty, who might have killed Lord Forrester, and if the women were reliable narrators. It added to the tension and suspense, leaving me feeling like I was holding my breath the whole time I was reading. 

Bold, brave, moving, funny and surprising, The Maiden is an extraordinary debut not to be missed. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Kate Foster has been a national newspaper journalist for over twenty years. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. The Maiden won the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect 2020 prize for new writers. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

REVIEW: The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter

Published May 27th, 2021 by Avon Books
Psychological Thriller, Noir Fiction, Serial Killer Books

Welcome to my review for this chilling debut. Thank you to Avon Books for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I read this as part of my Beat the Backlist 24 Challenge.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

*Read it before you watch it – now a major TV series for Paramount+*

‘The final double twist is well worth waiting for’My Weekly

‘Hooks you in to the drama straight away’ The Sun

Every marriage has its secrets…

Beth and Tom Hardcastle are the envy of their neighbourhood – they have the perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect family.

When the police knock on their door one evening, Beth panics. Tom should be back from work by now – what if he’s crashed his car? She fears the worst.

But the worst is beyond imagining.

As the interrogation begins, Beth will find herself questioning everything she believed about her husband.

They’re saying he’s a monster. And they’re saying she knew.

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MY REVIEW:

Tom and Beth have the picture-perfect house, the perfect child, perfect marriage. Or that’s what everyone thinks. Every marriage has its secrets, and theirs are about to be revealed…

One of the things I can’t help but think about whenever a killer is reported upon is what about their family. Do they have a partner? Children? Did those close to them notice anything untoward? Were they scared of them? Or were they blissfully unaware that anything was amiss and left with their whole world turned upside down when they were arrested? Those are the kinds of questions that Alice Hunter explores in her sensational debut, The Serial Killer’s Wife. This book had been on my shelf since before publication so I decided to listen to the audiobook as part of my attempt to beat my backlist this year. And I am so glad I did. What. A. Book! Nail-bitingly tense, unsettling and twisty, I was not prepared for what was on these pages and could only hold on tight as Alice Hunter took me on an insane ride. 

The story opens when the police arrive at Beth and Tom’s house to question him about a murder. It then moves between narrators and timelines, following the couple as it moves between the aftermath of his shocking arrest and events leading up to that day. Tom is protesting his innocence while Beth is in total disbelief that the man she shared her life with could have killed someone. Tom gave me bad vibes in many ways but I couldn’t decide if he was innocent or guilty. Meanwhile, my heart went out to Beth as she tried to make sense of it all. I was on the edge of my seat as Hunter deftly unpicked the intricate tangled web of secrets and lies, taking my breath away with each new revelation. This book is a masterclass in misdirection and my notes were full of annotations such as  ‘OMG’, ‘WTF is happening’, and ‘I can’t believe the twists that keep coming’. This has now been adapted for TV and I’m excited to watch soon as it is perfect for adaptation. 

Atmospheric, chilling, twist and surprising, this one is a must for all thriller fans. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to get 2 months of listening free with my affiliate link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

After completing a psychology degree, Alice Hunter became an interventions facilitator in a prison. There, she was part of a team offering rehabilitation programmes to men serving sentences for a wide range of offences, often working with prisoners who’d committed serious violent crimes. Previously, Alice had been a nurse, working in the NHS. She now puts her experiences to good use in fiction. THE SERIAL KILLER’S WIFE draws heavily on her knowledge of psychology and the criminal mind.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

Audiobook Review: How To Kill Men and Get Away with It by Katy Brent

Published February 16th 2023 by HQ
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Dark Comedy, Contemporary Romance

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Meet Kitty Collins.

FRIEND. LOVER. KILLER.

He was following me. That guy from the nightclub who wouldn’t leave me alone.

I hadn’t intended to kill him of course. But I wasn’t displeased when I did and, despite the mess I made, I appeared to get away with it.

That’s where my addiction started…

I’ve got a taste for revenge and quite frankly, I’m killing it.

A deliciously dark, hilariously twisted story about friendship, love, and murder. Fans of My Sister the Serial Killer, How to Kill Your Family and Killing Eve will love this wickedly clever novel!

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MY REVIEW:

“The men I kill deserve it. Every single last little bit of it…”

Influencer Kitty Collins is followed home from a night out by the man who wouldn’t leave her alone in the night club. When he attacks her she accidentally kills him and, to her surprise, seems to get away with it. That night is the start of Kitty’s addiction. She has a taste for revenge. And she knows how to get away with murder…

A deliciously dark, twisted, witty and addictive story of friendship, love, life and murder, How To Kill Men and Get Away With It is an intoxicating mix of Dexter, Sweetpea and How To Kill Your Family. I devoured this in just a few hours, hooked from the first page and unable to stop once I’d started listening. The ink-black humour had me laughing out loud and there is an added layer of mystery to the story thanks to Kitty’s stalker and I enjoyed trying to guess who they might be, going through a number of suspects before ultimately deciding on my prediction.

I loved Kitty’s snarky, warped and fiery character. She’s someone I think all women will relate to on some level with her frustration of how some men treat women without any comeback. And while I’d obviously never kill anyone, I did enjoy living vicariously through Kitty as she took revenge on men for their predatory behaviour. Kitty’s relationship with her friends are a big part of the story and I enjoyed seeing this side to her, as well as the dilemmas it raised as she tries to keep her murderous activities secret. I also really enjoyed seeing her vulnerable and kind of insecure side to her when she met and fell for Charlie. Despite it all, I was rooting for her to find a happy ending rather than living her life alone wreaking revenge. 

Darkly funny, compelling and unflinching, this fast-paced thriller is one not to be missed.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to get 2 months listening for free*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Katy is an author and award-winning journalist from the UK. She has worked on newspapers, magazines and websites since 2005, writing about popular culture. How To Kill Men and Get Away With It is her first novel.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

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Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BOOK REVIEW: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Published September 28th, 2023 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Murder Biography, Serial Killers

Welcome to my review for this dark, brutal and intoxicating thriller. Thank you to BookBreak and Pan Macmillan for sending me this proof copy in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A Richard & Judy Book Club pick
New York Times Bestseller
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist


Bright Young Women is an unflinching thriller based on Ted Bundy’s heinous crimes, as two women search for justice in the wake of his brutal murders. From Jessica Knoll, author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive.

‘A compelling, almost hypnotic read’ – Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True

‘Knoll deconstructs the myth of a criminal mastermind, revealing the women he seeks to destroy as the truly brilliant ones’ – Flynn Berry, author of Northern Spy

Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . .

In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend’s disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible.

Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation . . .

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MY REVIEW:

“No one tells you how painful it is to be afraid. Like a bee sting to the entirety of your central nervous system.” 

Brutal, dark, fearless and intoxicating, Bright Young Women is based on the heinous crimes of Ted Bundy. As a true crime enthusiast (someone really needs to come up with a better way to say that) this book was on my radar as soon as I heard about it, but it was a glowing review from a fellow blogger recently that made me bump it up my list. And I am so glad that I did as I devoured this in under a day, unable to tear myself away from the heart-stopping story. 

“Right here, right now, I want you to forget two things: he was nothing special, and what happened was not random.”

Tallahassee, Florida. January, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher is on her way to bed when she hears a thud, followed by footsteps running on the floor above her. She follows them and sees a man fleeing the house holding a weapon in his hand.She goes to check on her sisters and finds a terrifying scene of carnage. Four of her sisters have just been attacked by ‘The All-American Sex Killer’, drawing Pamela into the hunt for a killer that grips the entire nation.

“They will call you hysterical no matter how much dignity you have. So you might as well do whatever the hell you want.”

My nervous system is still on boil after bingeing this harrowing thriller. This book is a master-class in how to write a thriller that drips with malevolence. But it is also so much more. Jessica Knoll barely talks about the killer, focusing instead on the victims and those who loved them. It is boldly but sensitively written, running a rainbow of emotions through the story as she gives a beating heart and a voice to those who are so often forgotten in true crime. She gives these girls real identities and reminds us that they are so much more than a mere footnote in a sadistic killer’s story and that it is in fact he who is the footnote in theirs. She also discusses female rage and how although it is often righteous, it is often dismissed as hysteria, particularly by men. We see this in how Pamela and her sisters repeatedly restrain their emotions instead of allowing themselves to feel and show what’s really inside them.

“Women got that feeling about him, that funny one we all get when we know something isn’t right, but we don’t know how to politely extricate ourselves from the situation without escalating the threat of violence or harassment. That is not a skill women are taught, the same way men are not taught that it is okay to leave a woman alone if what she wants is to be left alone.”

As someone who regularly watches, listens to and reads about true crime I enjoyed the victim-centric aspect of this book and Knoll’s timely exploration of our obsession with true crime and serial killers. But what I particularly loved was how she dismantled the many myths about Bundy in one fell swoop. I simmered with rage as I remembered how he was praised for his good looks, charm and intelligence, but was left with a smile of satisfaction as she busted those myths simply by focusing on who he really was, rather than the caricature he’d become.  And that ending. Wow! It was so powerful and moving that I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as I listened. 

“Things grow differently when they’re damaged, showing us how to occupy strange new ground to bloom red instead of green. We can be found, brighter than before.”

Knoll seamlessly moves between the multiple timelines and perspectives to tell the story. I particularly liked how she makes the attack on the sorority the focal point of Pamela’s perspectives, telling us how many days, hours or minutes it is before or after the crime. I found this helped me understand Pamela even more. How her life would forever be split into ‘before’ and ‘after’ and how this tragic event had shaped every facet of her existence. Two of the threads are narrated by Pamela while another is narrated by Ruth, another suspected victim of the killer. While each of them are compelling, it is the raw, heartbreaking emotion in Pamela’s narration that will stay with me most of all. I felt what she did in my soul. My heart raced as I listened to her hear the attack and discover her sisters bludgeoned, I shook with fear and anger when she did, I fought back tears as she talked about carrying her lost best friend with her through her life ever since, and I felt her determination to turn this tragedy into something greater than herself.  She is a truly remarkable and compelling character that I won’t forget.

“Time does not heal all wounds. Grief is just like a sink full of dirty dishes or a pile of soiled laundry. Grief is a chore you have to do and it’s a messy one at that.”

Intense, chilling, heart-wrenching and evocative, Bright Young Women is an unflinching novel that will stay with me long after reading and will undoubtedly be in my list of top reads this year. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

* I listened to this book on Bookbeat.
You can get 90 Days listening free with my affiliate link here*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Jessica Knoll is the New York Times Bestselling author of THE FAVORITE SISTER and LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE—now a major motion picture on Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan, and the articles editor at SELF. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and bulldog, Franklin. BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN is her third novel.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

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Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2023

BOOK REVIEW: The Marriage Act by John Marrs

Published January 19th, 2023 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Bookbreak for sending me a proof copy in exchange for an honest review.

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BOOK DESCRIPTION:

‘Clever, compelling and terrifyingly plausible’ – C. J. Tudor, author of A Sliver of Darkness

What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey? Set in the same world as The One, now a Netflix Original Series, The Marriage Act is a dark, high-concept thriller from bestselling author John Marrs.

‘A page-turning and thought-provoking read’ – Daily Mirror

Britain. The near future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills – the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is supervising every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement – and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey . . .

Shortlisted for the Goodreads Awards 2023.

Black Mirror meets thriller with a dash of Naomi Alderman’s The Power.

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MY REVIEW:

The Marriage Act is a pacy speculative thriller set in Britain in the near future. A right-wing government has brought into law the Sanctity of Marriage Act, actively encouraging marriage by offering benefits for those opting for a Smart Marriage and punishing those who remain single. They believe it is the answer to society’s problems. After all, what could go wrong with a system where the government monitors and controls every aspect of your relationship? Four couples are about to find out…

John Marrs is at the top of his game and can do no wrong in my eyes. Everything he writes is golden; cleverly crafted with a merciless finesse that keeps his reader on tenterhooks from start to finish. A perfect marriage of complex moral and social issues, red herrings, shocks and suspense, this is a masterclass in speculative fiction. It grabs your attention from the dark opening pages that contain a promise of secrets just waiting to be revealed.  Much of this story seems far-fetched at first. But, as you read, you begin to realise that none of this is beyond the realms of possibility. Suddenly everything feels frighteningly real and the fact that I could imagine all of this happening chilled me to my core.

This is the fourth book set in The One Universe, the dystopian world that Marrs created which connects a number of his books, coming after The One, The Passengers, and The Minders. While it isn’t necessary to read these in order to follow what’s happening in this book, I highly recommend reading ALL of Marrs’ books. Now, back to The Marriage Act. Those who sign up to a Smart Marriage are monitored 24/7 by a device called an Audite. The Audite listens and records the couples conversations throughout the day, not only picking up on every word, but also their tone and the volume of their voices. This constant monitoring leads to a claustrophobic atmosphere, feelings of distrust, and people manipulating or avoiding conversations. If the Audite decides your marriage is in trouble they will send a Relationship Responder who then lives with you and helps you work on your marriage issues. In this complex and nuanced story there are many different clauses that also come along with a Smart Marriage, and as the story goes on we see the many flaws in the system. 

The story is told in mixed media from multiple points of view. I listened to it on audiobook and while the narration is fantastic, it did feel very confusing at first and I struggled to keep up with the many characters and threads of the story. But that didn’t last long, and I soon lost myself in the story, devouring the book in under a day. Marrs has created a large cast of interesting characters that come from different walks of life. Some were easier to root for than others, and there were some I couldn’t stand, but all of them were compelling, flawed, relatable and real. They are people you could imagine as your friends, family or neighbours, heightening the feeling that this could all actually happen. 

Ominous, tense, twisty and thought-provoking, The Marriage Act is a compulsive thriller charged with adrenaline charged with adrenaline that you won’t want to put down. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this book on Bookbeat. You can listen for two months free by clicking this link*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

John Marrs is an author and former journalist based in London and Northamptonshire. After spending his career interviewing celebrities from the worlds of television, film and music for numerous national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time author. His books include No1 bestseller and Netflix series The One, The Passengers, award winning What Lies Between Us and The Good Samaritan.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Published October 28th, 2021 by Tor
Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Fantasy Comedy, Romance Novel, Gay Fiction, Ghost Story, Horror Fantasy

Thank you Tor and BookBreak for the sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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SYNOPSIS:

Witty, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is a gift for troubled times. TJ Klune brings us a warm hug of a story about a man who spent his life at the office – and his afterlife building a home.

From the author of joyous New York Times bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own sparsely-attended funeral, Wallace is outraged. But he begins to suspect she’s right, and he is in fact dead. Then when Hugo, owner of a most peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace reluctantly accepts the truth.

Yet even in death, he refuses to abandon his life – even though Wallace spent all of it working, correcting colleagues and hectoring employees. He’d had no time for frivolities like fun and friends. But as Wallace drinks tea with Hugo and talks to his customers, he wonders if he was missing something.

The feeling grows as he shares jokes with the resident ghost, manifests embarrassing footwear and notices the stars. So when he’s given one week to pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in just seven days.

Fans of A Man Called Ove and The Good Place will fall for this queer love story by TJ Klune.

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MY REVIEW:

“It’s never enough is it? Time. We always think we have so much of it, but when it really counts we don’t have enough at all.”

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his sparsely-attended funeral he is outraged and refuses to accept that he’s dead. But, he begins to believe her when she takes him to Charon’s Crossing, a quirky tea shop run by Hugo, a man who promises to help him cross over. Despite his life being one of all work and  no play, Wallace is reluctant to leave his life behind and sets out to try and live a lifetime in the week he’s been given to pass through the door to the other side.

Witty, moving, cosy and unique, Under the Whispering Door is a book that warms you from the inside like a warm drink on a cold day. This was my tenth backlist book of the year and my introduction to T. J. Klune, an author I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. I now completely get the hype surrounding him and his books and will be prioritising reading his other books on my TBR. An exploration of life, love, death, grief and redemption, this broke my heart into a million pieces and then glued them back together. I appreciated how Klune examined the many stages of grief; how the pain of losing those we love never leaves us but leaves a permanent mark on our heart and soul. Beautifully written, richly imagined and evocative, the storytelling merged with the spectacular narration to make the story come to life around me so vividly that I felt like I’d flown through a hurricane and landed in Oz like Dorothy, opening the door to a magical and colourful new world I never imagined. 

Whimsical, escapist, colourful and deeply poignant, this gorgeous fantasy is one that will stay with me long after reading. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Follow this link to get your first 60 days of listening for free.*

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

TJ KLUNE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxx

Categories
Audio Books book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

Book Review: Idol by Louise O’Neill

Published May 12th, 2022 by Bantam Press
General Fiction, Thriller

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SYNOPSIS:


‘Follow your heart and speak your truth.’

For Samantha Miller’s young fans – her ‘girls’ – she’s everything they want to be. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’.

And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events.

Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral.

But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose ‘truth’ is really a lie?

‘You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.’

Riveting, compulsive and bold, IDOL interrogates our relationship with our heroes and explores the world of online influencers, asking how well we can ever really know those whose carefully curated profiles we follow online. And it asks us to consider how two memories of the same event can differ, and how effortlessly we choose which stories to believe.

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MY REVIEW:

Dark, unflinching, cryptic and compelling, Idol is an exploration of image, social media, our relationship with our idols, and the nature of truth and memory. The story centres around Samantha Miller, a social media influencer and lifestyle guru with three million followers that hang on her every word who has built a business empire on a foundation of encouraging positivity, being your best self, and her recovery from sexual assault and addiction. To promote her new number one book Sam writes an essay talking about her teenage sexual awakening with her best friend, Lisa. Until now she hadn’t told a soul and after the essay goes viral Sam learns that Lisa doesn’t remember the night like she does. As her reputation crumbles and she teeters on the brink of losing everything, Sam heads back to her hometown to try and convince Lisa to tell the truth. But which woman’s version is actually the truth?

Louise O’Neill has knocked it out of the park again with this thought-provoking and intelligent thriller. Skillfully written, intricately woven and cleverly plotted, I was not prepared for the bumpy ride this was about to take me on. This is one of those books where you are never quite sure what is real and what isn’t, who is a reliable character, and what is going to happen next. Sam is a very dislikeable protagonist. She’s self-centred, vain, image-obsessed and insecure. Even learning of her difficult past and the damage it has caused didn’t endear her to me and I never knew if I could trust her. This climate of distrust added to the feeling of suspicion and tension that ran throughout the story and I could never quite figure out what had really happened that night between Sam and Lisa. Every time I thought I’d got it figured out another twist would turn everything on its head, and my jaw hit the floor when everything was finally revealed.

O’Neill examines a variety of timely topics in this book, including the world of influencers and the disparity between the carefully curated social media posts and their real lives. She also explores truth and memory, asking if there is really only one ‘truth’? Or does the ‘truth’ depend on our perspective? And if two people remember the same event differently, does that mean there is more than one ‘truth’? It’s an unnerving thought as we like to believe that truth is finite rather than determined by perspective. Another topic she looks at is the stories we tell and what we choose to believe. We’ve all heard the saying ‘if you tell yourself a lie enough times you believe it’. But what does it actually mean if a person tells themselves a lie enough times that they become convinced it is real? And how does that affect those around them? I thought the way O’Neill explored this was particularly clever, though I won’t give any more detail to avoid spoilers.

Bold, twisty, topical and totally riveting, Idol is a brilliant thriller that I highly recommend.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Louise O’ Neill is from Clonakilty, in west Cork. After graduating with a BA in English Studies at Trinity College Dublin, she went on to complete a post-grad in Fashion Buying at DIT. Having spent a year in New York working for Kate Lanphear, the senior Style Director of ELLE magazine, she returned home to Ireland to write her first novel.
She went from hanging out on set with A-list celebrities to spending most of her days in pyjamas while she writes, and has never been happier.

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BUY THE BOOK:

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Published February 18th, 2021 by Mantle
Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Historical Mystery, Women Sleuths

Thank you to Mantle Books for my proof copy of this book.

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SYNOPSIS:

‘The best historical crime novel I will read this year’ – The Times

‘This is right up there with the best of C. J. Sansom and Andrew Taylor’ – Amanda Craig, author of The Golden Rule

From the pleasure palaces and gin-shops of Covent Garden to the elegant townhouses of Mayfair, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Daughters of Night follows Caroline Corsham as she seeks justice for a murdered woman whom London society would rather forget . . .

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thieftaker Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro’s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous, than she can know . . .

‘Spectacularly brilliant . . . One of the most enjoyable and enduring stories I have ever read’ – James O’Brien, journalist, author and LBC Presenter

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MY REVIEW:

“In the wrong hands, a secret is a weapon.”

Atmospheric and absorbing, this riveting historical crime story opens on a dark night in Georgian London when Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham finds the bloodied and mortally wounded body of a woman she knows as Lucia, an Italian Contessa. Lucia’s fingers find Caro’s, she gazes into her eyes, and with her last breath she whispers, ‘He knows’. The police are initially quick to investigate but drop the case when they discover that Lucia is in fact Lucy Loveless, a highly paid prostitute. Caro is incensed. So, with the help of  thieftaker Peregrine Child, she sets out to solve the crime. Their investigation leads them into the darkest corners of Georgian society and gentlemen who refuse to talk for fear of sullying their reputation. Can Caro and Perry find the killer before they too are silenced?

Daughters of Night has been sitting on my shelf ever since I received the proof in early 2021 and I am so glad I finally got around to reading it. Laura Shepherd-Robinson is an exquisite storyteller, bringing Georgian London and its dark, shadowy underbelly to life in vivid detail. Her research is evident in the authenticity that runs throughout the book, making me feel like I’d been transported back in time. Exploring topics such as shame, lack of female agency, and the unrelenting exploitation and abuse of women, Shepherd-Robinson writes with compassion, but there is also a brutal honesty, and some of the scenes in this book are not for the faint hearted. 

The huge cast of characters felt reminiscent of Dickens which added to the authentic historic feel. The richly drawn and varied cast of characters leaped from the pages and I connected quickly with Caro and young Pamela, the latter breaking my heart in every scene. Evocatively narrated, I lost myself in the elaborate and intricate plot, my heart pounding as the mystery deepened and the many threads began to weave together to finally reveal the full shocking picture. 

A tense, gripping and intriguing historical mystery that is a must-read for anyone who enjoys this genre. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Laura Shepherd-Robinson was born in Bristol in 1976. She has a BSc in Politics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics.

Laura worked in politics for nearly twenty years before re-entering normal life to complete an MA in Creative Writing at City University. She lives in London with her husband, Adrian.

Blood & Sugar, her first novel, won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown and the Specsaver’s Debut Crime Novel award, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and a Guardian and Telegraph novel of the year. It was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and the Sapere Historical Dagger; the Amazon Publishing/Capital Crime Best Debut Novel; and the Goldsboro Glass Bell; and longlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year.

Her second novel, Daughters of Night, was been shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year, the Goldsboro Glass Bell, the Capital Crime Fingerprint Historical Novel Award and the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown, longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger and was a Book of the Year in The Times, The i, and the Guardian.

Her third novel, The Square of Sevens, is a Sunday Times bestseller and available from all good bookshops now.

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BUY THE BOOK:

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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2023 Support Debuts

BOOK REVIEW: Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

Published March 2nd, 2023 by Michael Joseph
Historical Fiction, Fairy Tale, Greek Mythology

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SYNOPSIS:

Mother. Monarch. Murderer. Magnificent . . . meet Clytemnestra, the ancient world’s most wronged woman . . .

‘Vivid with fury, passion and strength, this is a fabulous myth retelling’ JENNIFER SAINT

‘A blaze of a novel, fiery and furious – and alight with murderous revenge’ DAILY MAIL

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She is born to a king but marries a tyrant.

She watches helplessly as he sacrifices her child to the gods.

She bides her time. She plots revenge. She knows how to play this game.

If power will not be given to her, then she will take it for herself.

She is Clytemnestra.

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MY REVIEW:

Mother. Queen. Wronged Woman. Murderer. Heroine. It’s time for Clytemnestra to tell her story in this glorious feminist retelling. 

Before reading this book I’d only heard Clytemnestra’s story as part of the background to the stories of her sister, Helen of Troy, and her daughter Elektra. So I was excited to learn more about this strong and fascinating woman. Though she was born to a King, Clytemnestra always felt second best as the sister to Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. She manages to find love but it is soon snatched away in a despicable act of betrayal by the cruel tyrant Agamemnon, who is determined to make her his wife at any cost. And so she becomes a woman motivated by vengeance, spending her life plotting and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 

Exquisitely written, evocative and atmospheric, this isn’t a book you simply read, but one you step into. This phenomenal debut highlights Costanza Casati as a talent to watch and I will certainly be reading whatever she writes next. I listened to it on audiobook and I was hooked from the start. It consumed me, feeling alive as it burned with fury. And although I knew a lot of the things that happened in these myths, I was still on the edge of my seat, listening with baited breath to discover what would happen next, as if it was all new rather than a retelling, something that is a testament to Casati’s masterful storytelling. 

Now, let’s talk about  the woman at the heart of it all: the eponymous Clytemnestra. Fierce, feisty, intelligent, passionate, and unforgiving, she is a remarkable heroine who refuses to be broken or shackled by the rules of the patriarchal society. The fire inside her radiated from the page, Casati making me feel her heartache, rage, vengeance and strength so vividly that it was like it was coursing through my own veins. I wanted Agamemnon dead. Right now! I rooted for her at every step as she bided her time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and avenge all of the betrayal. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. And when Clytemnestra’s vengeance is served, it is glacial. 

A furious, devastating, enthralling and magnificent retelling you won’t want to put down, Clytemnestra is a must-read.

Rating: 🏹🏹🏹🏹🏹

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Costanza was born in Texas in 1995, grew up in a village in Northern Italy and lived in the UK for five years. Before moving to London, she attended a classical Liceo in Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, for five years. Costanza is a graduate of the Warwick Writing MA programme, where she studied under Sarah Moss, and currently works as a freelance journalist and screenwriter. The art and history documentary she wrote on the 16th century painter Tintoretto had over 1 million viewers. Costanza’s short fiction has appeared in the collective Nothing in the Rulebook and broadcast on RAW1251 Warwick Radio.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org*| Amazon*

Currently 99p on kindle, 5.50 on pb on amazon

*These links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxx

Categories
Audio Books Beat the Backlist book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The People on Platform 5 by Clare Pooley

Published May 26th, 2022 by Bantam Press
Humorous Fiction, Literaty Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Lesbian Literature, Urban Fiction

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SYNOPSIS:

Get ready to hop onboard this summer’s unmissable book – the perfect feel-good and heart-warming read.

Readers are falling in love with The People on Platform 5:

‘Incredible book, full of joy and warmth and love!’
‘A great novel with some truly wonderful characters‘
‘The fantastic cast of eclectic characters will steal your heart & have you rooting for their happy endings’
‘A feel-good, once-in-a-lifetime story‘
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Every day at 8:05, Iona Iverson boards the train to go to work with the same group of people who she makes assumptions about, even giving them nicknames. As a seasoned commuter, she knows there are rules that everyone should follow:
· You must have a job to go to
· Don’t consume hot food
· Always pack for any eventuality
· You must never speak to strangers on the train

But then, one morning, Smart-but-Sexist-Surbiton chokes on a grape right in front of Iona. Suspiciously-Nice-New Malden steps up to help and saves his life, and this one event sparks a chain reaction.

With nothing in common but their commute, an eclectic group of people learn that their assumptions about each other don’t match reality. But when Iona’s life begins to fall apart, will her new friends be there when she needs them most?

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MY REVIEW:

One of my promises to myself this year is that I’d read more of my backlist and, as The People On Platform 5 has languished on my shelves for far too long, I decided to listen to it this month. Uplifting, engaging, emotional and hilarious, this love letter to the joy of friendship and the power of connection was just what I needed to lift my spirits on the cold January days. 

Every day Iona boards the train to go to work and sees the same group of people, giving them nicknames and making assumptions about their lives. But she sticks to the strict rules all commuters should abide by and never speaks to them. Until one day when a grape sparks a chain of events that will bring an eclectic group of strangers together. 

This was my first time reading a book by Clare Pooley, but it won’t be my last. Beautifully observed and wonderfully written, this heartwarming story is one I’ll not forget. Romance, humour, heartache, drama, skeletons in closets, and secrets waiting to be revealed, this gorgeous book had it all. It shattered my heart and then pieced it back together, and I often found myself laughing out loud. Who knew that the commute to work could be so eventful. 

The characters are a key part of this book and I adored this motley crew of compelling and richly drawn characters. They each narrate the story, offering us a glimpse into each of their lives and how differently they see the same events. But although there are multiple narrators, Iona still feels like the central character, and she was certainly the one who stole my heart most of all. Spirited and ebullient, she stands out from the crowd and refuses to fade away like people expect a woman of her age to do. I loved her nicknames for the other characters before she met them, her little schemes, and her beautiful romance with her wife, Bea. 

Comforting, affecting, entertaining and funny, this was an absolute joy to read. Highly recommended.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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MEET THE AUTHOR:

Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising before becoming a full-time writer.

Clare’s memoir – The Sober Diaries – has helped thousands of people worldwide to quit drinking.

Clare’s first novel – The Authenticity Project – was a BBC Radio 2 Bookclub pick, a New York Times Bestseller and the winner of the RNA debut novel award. It has been translated into 29 languages. Her second novel is coming Spring 2022.

Clare lives in Fulham, London with her long-suffering husband, three children and two dogs.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Waterstones* | Bookshop.org* | Amazon*

********

Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxxx

*These links are affiliate links