Another month, another wrap up! I haven’t quite kicked my brain back into gear with reviews, but I’m enjoying jotting down these ‘mini’ reviews in monthly wrap ups as a reminder 🙂
The Friend Zone – Abby Jimenez
I read this lil romance read as part of the FOMO Buddy Read on Bookstagram – it was fun getting to hear a bunch of different perspectives on it!
For my part, I enjoyed it the way I enjoy most light romance reads – as something fluffy with characters I still find myself invested in as I laugh and cry with them. From memory, this one has mid-range steam factor, and deals with issues of infertility & grief (in parts). If you’re a romance-fan, I have no doubt this would be fun to pick up!
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse – Charlie Mackesy
There’s not much I don’t love about Charlie Mackesy’s work. Bringing his gorgeous drawings & characters together in this book, there is small wisdom aplenty, and cake for the ride.
Many of Mackesy’s Instagram drawings find a home here, with a small thread of narrative running through the pages. It’s an absolute delight to pick up and a heart-warmer for these somewhat challenging times. Highly recommend!
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
I started reading this in March but couldn’t sink my teeth into it amidst the mental wish-wash of moving to work from home life & coming to grips with our new self-isolating reality.
BUT, April saw me a little more ready to tackle a big historical fiction novel, so I dove right back in to it! The beginning of this one was certainly slower for me, as you get used to the different voices of the novel and learn the temperaments of three young girls. However, I hit a point maybe a third of the way in where I found myself fully invested in this American family living in the Belgian Congo in the late 50’s-early 60s.
It’s been a hot minute since I picked up a historical fiction, and this one carried the weight of being one of my Mum’s favourites OF ALL TIME (seriously, she gave me s**t for ‘only’ giving it 4-stars on goodreads!). It was a fabulous book that evoked the landscape and history of the setting so well, and perhaps if I read it at another time of life it would’ve hit the 5-star mark for me. Sorry Ma 😉
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Oh wow. Taylor Jenkins Reid is ~officially~ a new favourite author for me. After reading and loving Daisy Jones and the Six in January this year, I was excited to pick this one up as our Book Club pick this month!
I love Taylor Jenkins Reid for the fact she writes flawed and honest women as her lead characters. You don’t necessarily love Evelyn in this book, but you definitely understand her and the reasons behind her actions and words. This book is exceptional, and heartbreaking, in the way it portrays the experience of part of the LGBTQ community, and women more broadly (especially those in the public eye).
I highly recommend jumping on this bandwagon – I’m driving!
Heartstopper: Volume 3 – Alice Oseman
These two lovebirds are just really freakin’ cute and I will never stop reading this series as long as Alice Oseman keeps writing it.
I actually read the comics that make up this book on Tapas – so if you want a light LGBTQ+ comic (and honestly, it hits so many diversity notes it’s super heartwarming), head on over to Tapas to get going on it for freeeee.
(CW: This volume starts to touch on eating disorders & bullying trauma)
A Lifetime of Impossible Days – Tabitha Bird
This book started slow for me, I couldn’t wrap my head around how the ‘time travel’ seemed to work and found myself pulled out of the story a little bit for trying to rationalise it in some way. However, once I let go of that I started to enjoy the narrative a bit more.
Tabitha Bird does very well at creating three distinct voices, which all carry a thread of the same mind as we meet Willa at age 8, 33, and 93 in this book. Each ‘Willa’ carries their own fears and hopes, and there are some incredible and evocative snippets of prose in each that made me fall a bit more for the character (especially ‘Middle Willa’).
A book to pick up if you’re a fan of light magical realism, though comes with a CW (content warning) as it does deal pretty heavily with trauma, and emotional & physical abuse in a family.
That’s a wrap! My favourite of the month was Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – hands down. AND I finished the month with “only” 103 unread books still on my shelves so I am feeling pretty confident that May is the month we see them hit double digits! I’ll cheers to that (with a hot cuppa, of course).
Until next time,
M xx
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The Friend Zone – Abby Jimenez
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse – Charlie Mackesy
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Heartstopper: Volume 3 – Alice Oseman
A Lifetime of Impossible Days – Tabitha Bird
