Review: THE BLACK WIDOWS by Angie Thomas

 

The Black Widows by Angie Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the short story that became The Hate U Give, and although it was written several years prior to THUG, you can tell Angie Thomas is a masterful writer. Very skilled.

It tells a version of Khalil's story, and a lead-up to his death, and we see several of the characters from THUG. I especially enjoyed seeing Starr through Khalil's eyes.

There is a hugely strong narrative voice in this story, and Angie Thomas touches on the important themes that her other works examine: racism, education, poverty, and the idea of being trapped in a way of life.

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Review: THE LAST BEAR by Hannah Gold

 

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In this instant literary classic about friendship, forging your own path, and doing what’s right, debut author Hannah Gold inspires fans of Pax and A Wolf Called Wander to make a difference in any way they can.

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to a faraway Arctic outpost.

But one night, April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear shaped loping across the horizon. A polar bear who shouldn’t be there—who is hungry, lonely and a long way from home.

Fusing environmental awareness with a touching story of kindness, The Last Bear will include full-page black-and-white illustrations as well as a note from the author with facts about the real Bear Island and the plight of the polar bears. 

--

Every now and again, you read a book, and it feels like being wrapped in a warm hug from someone important. It feels beautiful and significant, and you know it's going to have a long-lasting effect on you. This was that book.

I haven't that much middlegrade before, but I'd seen the author posting beautiful photos of this book on social media, so when I saw I could get a signed copy from Waterstones, I jumped at the chance. And this book was amazing.

April and her father get the chance to live at the Arctic when he gets located there for his job. While he's busy shutting himself away for work, April explores the island--and finds a polar bear, a bear who know one else knows is there.

April's a complex character. She's somewhat friendless at school and prefers being on her own. She feels abandoned at times by her father who is swamped in work--and indeed, working seems to be his coping mechanism for dealing with the death of April's mother. April is, in turn, still processing this, and we can really see how her life experiences have shaped her.

April and the polar bear build an almost magical friendship. Both are lost and isolated, and they come to trust each other greatly. The bear is hungry and April feeds him, providing him with her food. But of course, this friendship has a time limit on it--not only are April and her father due to return home at the end of his work, but this secret friendship can't last once food has run out, and there's also the threat of others finding out about the bear and removing him.

The ending of this book is bittersweet. I felt sad--I wanted things to go another way--but it also felt right. It was the right ending for the book, and I'm sure it'll teach a lot of children some very important life lessons too.

This book also says a lot about the environment and the devastating effects of global warming on the melting ice caps and the animals this affects, such as polar bears. There's just so much in this book.

It's a really important read.

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Review: BEFORE WE WERE BLUE by E.J. Schwartz

 

Before We Were Blue by E.J. Schwartz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get healthy on their own—or stay sick together?

At Recovery and Relief, a treatment center for girls with eating disorders, the first thing Shoshana Winnick does is attach herself to vibrant but troubled Rowan Parish. Shoshana—a cheerleader on a hit reality TV show—was admitted for starving herself to ensure her growth spurt didn’t ruin her infamous tumbling skills. Rowan, on the other hand, has known anorexia her entire life, thanks to her mother’s “chew and spit” guidance. Through the drudgery and drama of treatment life, Shoshana and Rowan develop a fierce intimacy—and for Rowan, a budding infatuation, that neither girl expects.

As “Gray Girls,” patients in the center’s Gray plan, Shoshana and Rowan are constantly under the nurses’ watchful eyes. They dream of being Blue, when they will enjoy more freedom and the knowledge that their days at the center are numbered. But going home means separating and returning to all the challenges they left behind. The closer Shoshana and Rowan become, the more they cling to each other—and their destructive patterns. Ultimately, the girls will have to choose: their recovery or their relationship.

-- 

This book has everything I could possibly want. I love sad and haunting stories that also offer hope, and BEFORE WE WERE BLUE, E. J. Schwartz's debut, gives just that.

I requested an ARC of this book on NetGalley because the cover was just so beautiful. Then I started reading it and realised it was about eating disorders--and I was drawn right in. In fact, I fell in love with this story as soon as I started it. Chapter one gives us Shoshana's POV as she's in RR, a recovery programme for her eating disorder. Immediately, I was pulled into her world and her life. She felt so, so real, and the writing was beautiful. There's something so compelling about the writing, in fact, that I just couldn't put it down. I knew immediately that this was a five-star book for me--and then I got Rowan's POV. And, just, wow. I didn't think this book could get it better, but chapter two just lifted it beyond 5 stars. We'd already met Rowan from Shoshana's POV, but chapter two, written in direct address from Rowan to Shoshana reveals the one-sided nature and complex intricacies of their friendship. There's this hard, toxic edge to Rowan and we realise she's using Shoshana. My heart was pounding reading this. It's just deliciously addictive.

Schwartz is a master of characterisation and voice, and I wasn't prepared for just how good this book was going to be. Every chapter, as I got deeper into the story, made me fall even more for this book. Shoshana and Rowan feel so real. I was breathing their stories, and Schwartz covers a lot of ground in this book.

Both girls are suffering from eating disorders, and there's a lot of discourse on bodies and social media. Shoshana is a professional cheerleader who developed her ED as a response to the pressures of this (and a pretty nasty coach), while Rowan has had her ED for longer, likely having, in some part, 'inherited' the behaviours from her mother who also showed signs of this. This book also really looks into the psychology of eating disorders and how they're often linked to other conditions--not just the physical ones caused by the effects of starvation and malnutrition, but other mental illnesses too. And it looks at WHY eating disorders can occur and how and why someone can relapse during/after treatment. There's one line from Shoshana that particularly struck me--she says about how she just wanted to be gone, and this jus really got to me. It resonated with me, and I think so many people think that eating disorders are just about food and body image, and someone's mental torture and desperation to disappear can often be overlooked because of this.

The friendship between Rowan and Shoshana is masterfully written. Rowan's arc in particular is impressive--she starts off wanting to hold onto her status as 'gray' (those whose EDs are controlling them more), and she's proud of it. She wants to be disciplined and seen as disciplined enough to maintain her status as gray (again, these were things I could personally relate to). But we see Rowan's mindset changing as she decides she wants to get better--and this coincides with her realisation about how she's been using Shoshana and needs to be a better friend.

Rowan's arc cleverly contrasts with Shoshana's. When Rowan's resisting progress at the start of the book, Shoshana is making it. When Rowan makes progress at the end, Shoshana's hitting 'rock bottom' again (perhaps, worse than before). But

This is definitely a story of friendship too--in all its different types--and we see how close and dependent the two narrators are on each other. There was this super intense relationship between them that I just adored. Now, I must just mention here that I am ace, and a lot of things that Shoshana said had me getting strong ace vibes. But I kept thinking that it wouldn't got that way, that it was just a coincidence--and then the author confirmed that this was in fact ace rep! At that point, I hadn't thought I could love this book any more, but I really did. This was just...amazing. A book that I could personally relate to not just on the eating disorder rep but also the ace rep. I was speechless. I almost couldn't believe I'd found such a perfect book for me.

I was so sad when I finished this book. I'd felt so seen in these pages, and I just wanted it to continue.

E.J. Schwartz is now an auto-buy author for me. BEFORE WE WERE BLUE is a complex look at eating disorders, friendship, social media and societal pressures, the process of healing, and asexuality. It's masterfully written, compelling and powerful, and I could not turn the pages fast enough.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy.

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Review: NOT ALL BLACK GIRLS KNOW HOW TO EAT: A STORY OF BULIMIA by Stephanie Covington Armstrong

 

Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat: A Story of Bulimia by Stephanie Covington Armstrong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stephanie Covington Armstrong does not fit the stereotype of a woman with an eating disorder. She grew up poor and hungry in the inner city. Foster care, sexual abuse, and overwhelming insecurity defined her early years. But the biggest difference is her race: Stephanie is black.
 
In this moving first-person narrative, Armstrong describes her struggle as a black woman with a disorder consistently portrayed as a white woman’s problem. Trying to escape her selfhatred and her food obsession by never slowing down, Stephanie becomes trapped in a downward spiral. Finally, she can no longer deny that she will die if she doesn’t get help, overcome her shame, and conquer her addiction to using food as a weapon against herself.
 
For more information about the book and eating disorders, visit www.notallblackgirls.com

---- 

I read this book as part of my MA in Creative Writing as I'd chosen to examine race within eating disorder representation in YA novels. While this book isn't YA or a novel, I found Stephanie Covington Armstrong's memoir extremely helpful for my assignment in which I was arguing that a lot of YA depictions not only gender eating disorder as women's illnesses but also suggest that only white women get them. And this is exactly what Covington Armstrong writes about in this memoir.

The writing is beautiful, and, I'll be honest, the content is harrowing. Of course, there's dark stuff in here--not just around body image and eating disorders and the reality of having bulimia, but we also see how the author was sexually assaulted as a child by her uncle. We see her fragmented relationships with authority figures after this and her anger at various family members.

This book also really shows how eating disorders can be thought of as an addiction, something I hadn't really fully realised before. It was enlightening.

Structurally, it's divided into three parts: before the eating disorder, during, and after/the recovery. This last section did seem a bit simplistic at times, and the author highlights her reliance on God for recovery. This was the part I related to the least really, but as this is memoir and not fiction, how I relate to the events isn't really important. This is Covington Armstrong's story.

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Review: BRIGHT BURNING STARS by A.K. Small

 

Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure.

But then Kate gets closer to the Demigod, even as Marine has begun to capture his heart. And as selection day draws near, the competition—for the prize, for the Demigod—becomes fiercer, and Marine and Kate realize they have everything to lose, including each other.

---

4.5 stars.

What can I say? I've picked up yet another novel about ballet dancers!

I've actually been waiting over a year for this book, and when my paperback preorder finally arrived, I was so excited to start it.

It follows two ballet dancers, Marine and Kate, as they finish their final year of ballet school and compete for a prestigious role as a professional dancer. We see their friendship tested as both strive to achieve the attentions of the best male dancer there, Cyrille, who is nicknamed "The Demigod." I must admit, I found that name annoying, especially how the nickname is used so frequently in the text.

The romance is heavier in this book than I was expecting, but it works. And we see the lengths that people will go to to get what they want. Hello, toxic competitive ballet dancers! This has to be one of my favourite things.

Oh and Marine's grieving for her brother who died several years ago too.

There are quite a lot of content warnings for this book though: sex, abortion, drugs, mental health, eating disorders, suicide, sucide attempts, grief, death. There really is so much wrapped up in these pages.

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Review: LOVELESS by Alice Oseman

 

Loveless by Alice Oseman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman – one of the most authentic and talked-about voices in contemporary YA.

It was all sinking in. I’d never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?

Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.

As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.

But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along?

This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance.

----

Loveless has to be one of the biggest YA books out there for ace rep, and this made me incredibly nervous to read it as I'm ace myself, and I guess I was scared that I wouldn't relate to the character or wouldn't find myself in the pages. But I did. And I really wish I'd read it sooner.

Georgia and her two best friends have just started university, and this really is a coming-of-age book. It covers so much ground--identity, sexuality, coming out, finding yourself, mental health, anxiety, romantic relationships, sexual relationships, familial relationships, starting university, becoming an adult, and so on. There is so much so cleverly packed into this book.

And the ace rep is phenomenal. Alice Oseman brilliantly captures what it's like to not be interested in sex and just not understand what all the hype is about in a society that is so sexualised. There's all the questioning and worrying about whether you're 'normal', the anxiety about why you don't feel like that way even if you want to and at times are desperate to.

But it's still got great messages about allos too--especially as the new roommate is presented as very sexual and says she enjoys sex and won't shamed for it.

While I've always thought of myself as heteromantic, Georgia, the MC, is aromantic as well as asexual--and to my surprise, I actually sort of related to some of the aromantic things she was discussing, which, yeah, really surprised me. I've been on that 'forced date' type thing where you're aware you should be romantically attracted but you're not. And reading this book made me realise that I'm probably actually demi-romantic, because the only times I've felt romantic attraction are when I've known the person really well.

I'm so glad I read this book. Really great ace-rep.

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Review: TOFFEE by Sarah Crossan

 

Toffee by Sarah Crossan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The astonishing new novel from the incomparable, multi-award-winning and Laureate, Sarah Crossan.

I am not who I say I am,
and Marla isn't who she thinks she is.

I am a girl trying to forget.
She is a woman trying to remember.

Allison has run away from home, and with nowhere to live, finds herself hiding out in the shed of what she thinks is an abandoned house. But the house isn't empty. An elderly woman named Marla, with dementia, lives there – and she mistakes Allison for an old friend from her past called Toffee.

Allison is used to hiding who she really is, and trying to be what other people want her to be. And so, Toffee is who she becomes. After all, it means she has a place to stay. There are worse places she could be.

But as their bond grows, and Allison discovers how much Marla needs a real friend, she begins to ask herself - where is home? What is a family? And most importantly, who am I, really?

----

This novel-in-verse has to be one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I've read. The depiction of dementia in it is so truthful and real, and I felt raw reading this book. Several times, it had me crying. It's just so, so real.

And that wasn't the only 'truth' in this book--it spoke a lot about abusive parents and domestic violence, and this just felt like so, so real too. Like, I could feel Allison's pain, and I loved how Crossan still showed how Allison did love her dad, that there were good moments between them, despite how he was abusive toward her.

This book covers a lot of difficult topics: Allison's mother died giving birth to her and her father emotionally neglected her as a child, which only got worse as she got older. There's depictions of violence and abuse, and Allison leaves him, making herself homeless. She travels to Bude (always fun reading a book set in the town near me!) and stumbles upon Marla, an elderly woman with dementia who thinks she's her friend, Toffee. Allison assumes the identity of Toffee in order so she can stay at Marla's house, and in doing so, really comes to care for Marla. Their relationship is just so, so beautiful.

But the whole time, there's this sense of a countdown--that this cannot last forever. Is Allison's dad looking for her? What about the latest of his girlfriends who suddenly left, even though she and Allison were a united front? And what happens when Marla gets too unwell to still be living in her own home? Allison/Toffee can't look after her forever. I won't spoil the ending--but I will say it works. It's satisfying, and it draws everything together.

The other character who has a lot of page-time is Lucy, a girl whom befriends Allison. While their friendship seems innocent at first, it soon becomes clear Lucy is using Allison. She pays her to do her homework, she invites friends over to Marla's house and doesn't respect Allison when she asks them not to break or steal anything. And I thought this inclusion of a one-sided friendship really adds to the many different ways that Crossan explores the toxic nature of man, because there are a lot of depiction of this and unkindness. Allison's dad is the main example, but Lucy parallels him on a smaller level, and then you've also got Marla's son who shows up and is revealed to only be concerned about himself and not really care for his mother. 

But all of this is offset by the tender friendship that Allison and Marla form, albeit Marla never really knows who Allison is. 

There's a lot of sadness in this book, a lot of heartbreak and pain, and I've come to understand that I love sad books. These are the books that just 'get me'. And I love novels-in-verse, and every now and again, I read one that I find so inspiring and that encourages me to work more on my own novels-in-verse. This was just that book. It was so good it was motivating.

The language is just stunningly beautiful. I wanted to fold myself up within these pages and never leave the book.



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Review: STILLHOUSE LAKE by Rachel Caine

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace.

But just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

--- 
I listened to the audiobook shortly after Rachel Caine passed away, and it definitely was poignant listening to this as she was such a great writer. I'd had the ebook of this for a while, but when I joined audible and saw this was there too, I thought I'd try it out that way as I'd been having problems with my vision.

I ended up listening to this in quite intense chunks--several hours at a time--as it was when we had the really hot weather and I needed to sit outside with my guinea pigs to make sure they weren't getting too hot. They always like the sound of the radio and so on, so I put the audio on out loud for them all to hear--and we all enjoyed it.

In Stillhouse Lake, Caine proved once again that she is a master of writing. This is the first of her adult books I've read--and the first thriller from her, given I was obsessed with her YA fantasy Morganville series and was a bit scared to try something new from her for so long due to being afraid of being disappointed. But I wasn't disappointed at all.

From the moment I started listening to this book, I was drawn in. The characters are just so, so real, and the emotion in the writing is incredible.

I'll admit, I found the first half of the book a tiny bit slow at times--but this is just nitpicking really, because it really is amazing. And that ending! Wow. Just wow.

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Review: SHINY BROKEN PIECES by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton

 

Shiny Broken Pieces by Sona Charaipotra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

June, Bette, and Gigi have given their all to dance at Manhattan’s most elite ballet school. Now they are competing one final time for a spot at the prestigious American Ballet Company. With the stakes higher than ever, these girls have everything to lose… and no one is playing nice.

June is starting to finally see herself as a prima ballerina. However, getting what she wants might cost her everything—including the only boy she’s ever loved. Legacy dancer Bette is determined to clear her name after she was suspended and accused of hurting her rival, Gigi. Even if she returns, though, will she ever regain the spotlight she craves? And Gigi is not going to let Bette—or the other dancers who bullied her—go unpunished. But as revenge consumes her, Gigi may be the one who pays the price.

After years of grueling auditions, torn ribbons, and broken hearts, it all comes down to this last dance. Who will make the cut? And who will lose her dream forever?

--- 

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. I already loved the first book in the series and rated that one 5 stars, because it was so good--and so I wasn't expecting the sequel to be even better. But it is...

Book one ends with a pretty big event (spoilers for book 1 here): Gigi's been run over and one of the ballet dancers was behind it. This book opens a little while after this. Gigi is now recovered and returning to the school (alongside Cassie who is also returning--Cassie was absent on-page from book 1, having also been injured in the bullying). June is back at the school too but on thin ice as the school are now aware of her eating disorder and tell her she will be asked to leave if she doesn't improve. Bette is back at her family home for much of the book, having been excluded from the school who believe she was responsible for Gigi's accident--even though Bette's narrative tells us she wasn't and she's determined to find out who was.

So the stakes are immediately high in this book and it takes on almost thriller vibes at times. And it's just so tense--because the girls in this book are even more vicious than in the last book!

Gigi and Cassie team up together, which is understandable as there's no way Gigi is going to trust Bette or June. But Cassie is so, so toxic though and we see her manipulating Gigi, getting her to do things she'd never normally do (such as giving Eleanor peanuts when the girl has a severe peanut allergy). Gigi also cuts off all of June's hair, and there are numerous other things she now does without question due to the mindset that her accident and Cassie's manipulation have got her into.

And Gigi isn't the only one whose 'pranks' turn more severe. We see June also upping her game, and we see just how far Bette will go to clean her name.

Of course there's more darkness in this book--but I actually think it was handled even better than in book one. (Spoilers ahead). We've got a predatory teacher preying on Eleanor (Bette's best friend), and Bette takes photographic evidence of this. When these photos are mysteriously leaked to the students and teachers, Eleanor is blamed and slut-shamed--and then she attempts suicide too. My heart was racing at this point and I couldn't read fast enough to see if Eleanor was okay.

June's eating disorder becomes even more prominent, and she's also balancing this with the stress of the future of her romantic relationship with Jahye, as he wants her to relocate to where he's going to college, which would mean giving up her dreams of being a professional ballet dancer.

In fact, all three narrators--June, Bette, and Gigi--are worrying about their future in this book, as are all the other main characters (Cassie, Will, etc). This is their last year at the ballet school and the school only offers places to two dancers. There's this huge sense of urgency and inevitable change.

One of the reasons I really loved this sequel is because I felt Bette's character was more fully fleshed out. In book 1, she's backstabbing and manipulative--and she is in this book two, but we learn more about her. Because she's at home for a lot of the book, we get an insight to her family life that we didn't have before and we meet her father who left her. We also understand more about why she's so jealous of Gigi as she is still in love with her ex (Gigi's boyfriend). And we get a lot more insight into Bette's addiction too and how she struggles with drugs.

In fact, I think this book has more psychological insight for all the narrators--especially June. 

And, of course, it's a hugely diverse book in terms of race and disability/chronic illness. 

The only 'negative' I have about it (and I had to think hard about this one!) is the male characters, mainly the male ballet dancers. Because the female ballet dancers' personalities were so strong and so well developed, they felt flatter in comparison. I did catch myself skimming over scenes with Alec and Will, at times, purely because I wanted to get to the 'heart' of the novel where it was about the backstabbing girls pretty much plotting to murder each other.

But this has to be one of my top reads.

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Review: TINY PRETTY THINGS by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton

 

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now a Netflix TV show!

Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton, and the author of the highly anticipated Symptoms of a Heartbreak, Sona Charaipotra.

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet-star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever.

When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

Don’t miss the gossip, lies, and scandal that continues in Tiny Pretty Things’ gripping sequel, Shiny Broken Pieces!

----

I read this book after having seen the Netflix series--albeit I'd bought the book before the TV series came out--and there's something really addictive about it. Usually, I end up liking either the book or the adaptation more--but it wasn't the case with this. I think I liked them both equally, even though they're quite different in terms of plot and character.

I couldn't stop reading this book, and it was one of those that I really wanted to savour. For a start, it's about ballet dancers and I don't know why, but I just can't get enough of ballet fiction at the moment. There's something so enticing about it.

Tiny Pretty Things is a dark book, and though it's about petty teen drama at a lot times, it also covers quite a lot of difficult themes: eating disorders, mental illness, bullying, assault, violence. And all of these things are covered so expertly and sensitivity. And I did I mention it's got perhaps the most diverse cast I've ever read? Of it's three narrators, Gigi is Black and June is Korean. Oh and Gigi has a chronic illness too. And I just loved that rep, as a chronically ill person myself.

Going back to the three narrators, too--each narrator felt like she had equal importance in the story. It was well balanced and the structure really worked. Not to mention that the narrative voices of each POV character were different as well, so that was really amazing.

At its heart, this is a book about the toxic competitive natures of teen ballet girls and what they'll do to succeed (a theme which is taken even further in the sequel which I read straight after this and am about to review too). But here's also a fair amount of romance for two out of the three narrators, and there are some touching moments of friendship and family too.

And there are unreliable narrators! Which I LOVED.

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Review: MY CAT CALLED RED by Jane Lightbourne

 

My Cat Called Red by Jane Lightbourne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Red is an extraordinary cat. When he turns up on Robin’s doorstep one night the little boy doesn’t realise how magical the cat’s powers are.

For Red has a magic purr. But he’s been on a journey, a search for his forever home, and with all the danger and the excitement that has accompanied that, he’s come to lose his purr.

How?

The troubled Robin won’t rest until he knows Red’s story.

And so his grandfather tells it to him.

Mid-grade chapter book My Cat Called Red is a heartwarming adventure story by author Jane Lightbourne, about friendship and courage in the face of danger, featuring the magical cat Red and the purr that transforms children’s lives. The ebook topped the Amazon Hot New Release charts when it first came out and has been an Amazon category bestseller in several categories, reaching the number 2 spot in the UK and number 1 in Australia across its categories. Designed for children aged 8 to 12, My Cat Called Red is a modern classic that will appeal to all ages.

A percentage of profit from sales of the first edition of the paperback will be donated to the National Literacy Trust.

--

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. I hadn't heard of this writer before, but I'm a sucker for animal stories and children's stories/middlegrade so I requested this book as soon as I saw it and was delighted to receive a copy.

This tells the story of Robin, a troubled boy following his mother's death, and how he's sent around various relatives until he lives with his grandfather. There, he meets an abandoned red cat, and the grandfather proceeds to tell the red cat's life story. And, wow, this is a sad story at times. It does get dark--and I did wonder just how appropriate this would be for younger children, given I think this is aimed at seven-year-olds. (I would've recommended it for being slightly older kids, as you've got a lot of rhetoric on death and grief--which made me, a woman in her late twenties tearful at times--as well as talk of animal cruelty, such as how some kittens are drowned and/or killed when they're not wanted.) But this is a good book to give to children to teach them about these difficult themes--life, death, grief, etc, and of course animal cruelty. In fact, I don't think I've come across a children's book before that tackles it so directly.

The framing of the cat's narrative is folded within Robin's story, via the grandfather telling the tale. It does give it a Chinese Box frame narrative, similar to that in Wuthering Heights, so this book is definitely well structured. I could see a lot of care had gone into the writing of this.

There are quite a lot of characters in this too, as the red cat tells of how he's gone from home to home, and a couple of times I got a bit lost or mixed up a few of these characters when they were later referred back to.

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Review: MY DARK VANESSA by Kate Elizabeth Russell

 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.

-- 
Oh my goodness. This book is dark. It is intense. It's amazing. And it's such an important read.

Content warning for sexual abuse, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and grooming.

So I listened to the audiobook of this one, and I was just overwhelmed. I think that's the best way to describe my reaction. I found it difficult to listen to--and several times I had to stop when the story just became too much. It felt too real, and the rape scenes were very graphic. It made me feel sick, and as someone who's experienced sexual violence, this book just hit too close to home several times.

But I couldn't leave the book alone for long. I always had to know what happened next. I had to know if Vanessa would realise that she had been abused, and I had to know if her abuser would pay. But I think it was the first of those reasons--needing to see if Vanessa would or could understand what had happened to her was wrong--was what really drove the story. Because for a lot of the book, the relationship she had with her teacher was romanticised. And it was romanticised a lot. It's skillfully written, because as an adult reader, I could see what it was: a predatory, abusive relationship, even though for a long time, the main character can't see this. And I think what really helped was that we get pretty much duel timelines. We see her as an adult looking back (albeit she still isn't accepting that it was wrong, still believing her relationship with the man to be different, even as he is now facing accusations of abusing other girls at the school). And because we get these different perspectives--adult Vanessa as well as teenage/child Vanessa--that's what really makes this story a masterpiece.

We see the effects of this abuse on Vanessa as an adult, even though she's still struggling to see it for what it was. We see her going to therapists and struggling to hold relationships with others, both romantic and familial. We see the effects of the abuse on her relationship with her parents, both at the time when she was a fifteen-year-old and now as an adult. But we also see the the changing attitudes toward sexual assault and child sexual abuse and grooming in the book.

As a child, Vanessa takes the blame for it all when others find out about her relationship with the teacher. The fact that the teacher actually coerced her into taking the blame, really manipulating her, set me teeth on edge as I was reading, and I felt so, so angry.

But we do see how attitudes are changing in the book--as an adult, and when others have come forward about this teaching abusing them, Vanessa is starting to accept what happened to her was abuse and we see others supporting her.

There wasn't really a sense of justice though, (spoiler ahead), as the predatory teacher takes his own life about halfway through the adult timeline of the book, which does lead to Vanessa having to deal with guilt over this as well. While I desperately wanted there to be justice, I can't deny that that wouldn't have been right for the story that the author was telling here. She was focusing on Vanessa and showing what does happen.

This book is dark, probably the darkest thing I've ever read. It's disturbing. There's no denying it. I think that's why I wouldn't necessarily say I 'enjoyed' this book. It was emotionally draining. But it was so, so good. Really well written. And it's an important book that needs to be read.

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Review: FACELESS by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

 

Faceless by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Maisie Winters wakes up, she’s in the hospital.

The last thing she remembers is running through the hills of her neighborhood one misty morning. Slowly, she puts the pieces together. Before she could make it home, a storm gathered. Lightning hit a power line and sparks rained down, the hot-burning electrical fire consuming her. Destroying her face. Where her nose, cheeks, and chin used to be, now there is…nothing.

Maisie’s lucky enough to qualify for a rare medical treatment: a face transplant. At least, everyone says she’s lucky. But with someone else’s features staring back at her in the mirror, Maisie looks—and feels—like a stranger. The doctors promised that the transplant was her chance to live a normal life again, but nothing feels normal anymore. Before, she knew who she was—a regular girl who ran track and got good grades, who loved her boyfriend and her best friend. Now, she can’t even recognize herself.

New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Sheinmel has created a gripping and gorgeously written tale of identity and love. This is a story of losing yourself and the long, hard fight to find your way back

-- 

This book is just heartbreaking and powerful and had me in tears so many times. It's about identity and self-worth and healing and growing up. But it's also about so much more.

Maisie is hit by an electrical storm and loses most of her face. She's given an experimental face transplant, and this book is about her journey after this. We see her going through an array of emotions and battles as she struggles to cope with a life-changing event such as this. It reminded me a lot of Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart--which has a similar theme.

We see Maisie as her sense of self-worth is shattered and we see her break up with the boyfriend who waited nearly a year to see her after the accident. She didn't feel like she was the same person anymore and therefore decided they wouldn't work together. Although I've not been through anything like that, I've experienced thoughts like this at times where I feel betrayed by my body in how it determines the things I do and affects my confidence. It's made me question whether I can have relationships with others so many times--and this book was so relatable because of this.

The writing itself is great--as I knew it would be because I loved the other book I read by this author. And this book is just as deep. Just as emotional. Just as powerful.

I really recommend it.

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Review: POINTE by Brandy Colbert

 

Pointe by Brandy Colbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Theo is better now.

She's eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.

Donovan isn't talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn't do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she's been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.

-- 

This book!!! This book has SO MUCH THAT I LOVE IN A YOUNG ADULT BOOK!

It's got ballet--huge bonus, and this is primarily what drew me to the book as I'm on the lookout for ballet books at the moment.

It's got a girl in recovery for an eating disorder--this is also what drew me to the book, as I'm examining eating disorders in YA lit as part of my MA in Creative Writing. (And the eating disorder rep is really good and authentic in this one).

It's got a child abduction--so this sounds weird saying that I love this in a book, but it gives it the thriller vibe that I adore.

And it's also got darkness. A lot of darkness.

Theo is the main character, a Black ballet dancer and the one with the eating disorder. Her best friend Donovan was kidnapped several years ago, but now he's back. And the man who is facing trial for abducting him? He's also a friend of Theo's.

Okay, spoilers ahead.

We quickly learn that thirteen-year-old Theo was more than friends with eighteen-year-old man who went on to abduct Donovan. We learn that she was also groomed sexually by this man, and we see her come to terms with the fact she was raped by him.

She struggles a lot with this, not believing it to be rape at first, but then realises she needs to tell the truth to help Donovan. And I think that's what is at the heart of this book--truth.

It's raw and it doesn't shy away from difficult topics. In fact, this book does an awful lot. And that's what makes it such a vital read. I'd recommend parents of teens read this one too, not just young adults. It really is eye-opening.

Content warnings for child sexual abuse and rape, drugs, grooming, mental illness, eating disorders, low self-esteem.

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Review: SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo

 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

--

So I watched this book after I'd seen the Netflix series, and I have to confess, I think I preferred the Netflix series! I feel bad saying that, and I think the important thing to realise here is the story and characters are quite different in the book.

Let's start with Mal--he's a totally different character in the book, and I went into this, thinking he'd be like in the TV series where he was one of my favourite characters. But he's unlikeable in the book, and immediately this gave me this sense of disconnection, as it just wasn't meeting the expectations I had formed.

While most of the plot follows the Netflix series (albeit the ending is much bigger and greater in the TV series), I often found myself getting a little bored. The pacing was a bit off at times, particularly in the first half, and I found myself skim-reading at times.

But the worldbuilding is what redeems this story, making it a 3.5 stars. Because this universe just feels so real, so fleshed out, even though it's one of the most fantastical worlds I've ever read.

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Review: HER LAST HOLIDAY by C. L. Taylor

 

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You come to the retreat to be healed. You don’t expect to die.

Two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared on a wellness retreat in Gozo that went terribly wrong.

Tom Wade, the now infamous man behind Soul Shrink Retreats, has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for the deaths of two people. But he has never let on what happened to the third victim: Jenna.

Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat – the first since his release – and finds herself face to face with the man who might hold the key to her sister’s disappearance. The only question is, will she escape the retreat alive? Or does someone out there want Jenna’s secrets to stay hidden?

The master of suspense is back. Prepare yourself for the latest heart-in-mouth rollercoaster ride from the Sunday Times bestseller.

--

I have to admit, this book didn't blow me away like I'd hoped it would. I'm a massive fan of C.L. Taylor's other works, but this one just fell a bit short me. I don't know if it was because I had such high expectations, or if it's because I loved her first-person narrators so much (and this is third person and three narrators), but it just felt a bit...flat. I didn't really think the tension was there, and a few of the twists I managed to guess. 

And the ending--well, I just didn't think it was 'enough'. The whole story seemed to have been leading one way, and then well, it didn't. It just stopped, taking us a new direction as we discover the truth--and I just found that it all wrapped up too nicely. It felt like it was just too convenient. Too perfect an ending for such a dark novel. 

Having said that, the characterisation is solid and the setting was really well written. I do love stories set in retreats as you get this locked-room mystery vibe, and we do have two timelines here too, both with retreats. 

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Review: OFF THE RECORD by Camryn Garrett

 

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The behind-the-scenes access of Almost Famous meets the searing revelations of #metoo in this story of a teen journalist who uncovers the scandal of the decade.

Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this.

Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head.

One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will?

From the author of Full Disclosure, this is a moving testament to the #MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other. 

--- 

Oh my goodness. How have I not reviewed this book sooner?

I read it a couple of months ago, and, just wow. This book is amazing. It's got the most realistic depiction of anxiety that I've ever seen. And I loved how Josie, the main character, doesn't have friends. She's got her sisters, and though she wishes she has close friends, we see realism reflected here. It is so good.

In the wake of #MeToo movement, this book is so, so important. Writing is the most important thing in Josie's life, and she not only wins a competition to write for a top magazine, but she also uses her writing to expose a predator and the awful behaviour and actions (sexual assaults) that a lot of young women and men experience in the film industry. This book just feels so, so important, and I almost got nervous reading it.

There's also romance that feels really wholesome and genuine, and I loved how Josie made mistakes in this. She wasn't perfect and a lot of the time she let her beliefs blind her to other things. (Oh and there's bisexual rep too!) 

Sisterhood is very important in this novel. Josie has her sisters and we really see the strength of their bond. We see it on the page, and this was just amazing. 

And there are also so many things in this book too that it tackles: racism, body image, sexuality, mental illness, art vs creator.    

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Review: CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT by Brigid Kemmerer

 

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship...

This captivating, heartfelt novel asks the question: Is it okay to do something wrong for the right reasons? 

-- 

I have to admit it: this is, for sure, one of my top reads of 2021.

My friends have been trying to get me to read Brigid Kemmerer's dystopian fantasy trilogy for ages, and I don't know why I haven't read that (still), but I ended up buying this book at Waterstones and didn't realise for a while it was the same author.

And, the moment I started this book, I was hooked.

The writing is amazing. Beautiful. It really is.

But more than that: the characters are just so real. Maegan and Rob are both so fully fleshed and fully realised--they're both so believable, and I felt like I knew them, perhaps more than I have in reading any other YA romance.

But then this didn't really feel like a romance--and I suppose it's more of a contemporary story, first and foremost. Although we can see the two central characters are falling in love (and this is just so satisfying and had me rooting for them), we get to know them as people first, and, crucially, we get to see them hurting.

Both characters are somewhat loners at the start. Maegan's avoided by most of her year group, having cheated on a test previously that meant the whole year had to retake. She's not liked, despite her being a very likeable and relatable character. Maegan's also got a secret: her older sister is pregnant by a married man. And her family don't want anyone knowing of the sister's pregnancy.

Rob is a troubled teenage boy whose dad stole a lot of money from almost everyone he knows. Rob, despite not being involved in the fraud, has been dropped from the popular group at school and is still paying for his father's actions, the following year. It's also quite heartbreaking as Rob's father tried to kill himself when the fraud was discovered and is now somewhat 'brain dead' due to this and we see Rob as a teenage carer too.

We see Rob and Maegan as they go through an array of emotions--loss and hurt and self-hatred--and we see how they come together and help each other. We see them falling in love. And we also see other themes explored through the secondary characters. The pressures on male mental health and toxic masculinity are also well examined in this book, particularly via Rob's former best mate, and that's done in a really deep and engaging way. This book really is eye-opening. It teaches you a lot without being preachy. It shows that you never know what others are going through.

But it's also exciting--there are twists and turns that really shake things up as secrets are revealed. And there's a pretty big reveal about the fraud case that Rob's parents were involved in. That had me speechless.

I can't urge you all enough to read it--because I feel everyone should.




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Review: THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET by Sandra Cisneros

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero.

Told in a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous–it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.

-- 

I came across this book as part of my MA degree in Creative Writing, examining spiral narratives in fiction, and I ended up using this book as inspiration for my spiralling narrative poem.

Cisneros tells the story of Esperanza, a young Latina girl, as she grows up, using a series of vignettes as the structure. As I was reading this with the structure in mind, I was particularly aware of the patterns and how the vignettes were structured. Every time the story started to reach out, covering more ground, it then shrank back again, focusing on Em once more, before the story starts reaching out again.

This book covers a lot of topics as it examines how different people live, and there is a content warning for sexual assault. But, more than that, it's a book about life. As a white reader, I felt my eyes were opened a lot.

This is a extremely well written book. The craft is simply beautiful. Several times, I found myself re-reading pages simply because of the language. It's just amazing. So heartfelt and raw and poignant.

Everyone should read this book.

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Review: SAY HER NAME by Juno Dawson

 

Say Her Name by Juno Dawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Roberta 'Bobbie' Rowe is not the kind of person who believes in ghosts. A Halloween dare at her ridiculously spooky boarding school is no big deal, especially when her best friend Naya and cute local boy Caine agree to join in too. They are ordered to summon the legendary ghost of 'Bloody Mary': say her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror, and she shall appear... But, surprise surprise, nothing happens. Or does it?

Next morning, Bobbie finds a message on her bathroom mirror... five days... but what does it mean? And who left it there? Things get increasingly weird and more terrifying for Bobbie and Naya, until it becomes all too clear that Bloody Mary was indeed called from the afterlife that night, and she is definitely not a friendly ghost. Bobbie, Naya and Caine are now in a race against time before their five days are up and Mary comes for them, as she has come for countless others before... A truly spine-chilling yet witty horror from shortlisted 'Queen of Teen' author James Dawson. 

I picked up this book, having read a couple of Juno Dawson's books before, when I was in Waterstones with some time and money to spend--and I was not disappointed.

Say Her Name is different to Dawson's other books--I'm thinking of Clean and Wonderland--as the tone for this one isn't as 'raw' and harsh or real. It's paranormal, to start with, a chilling ghost story. But it was equally as compelling. I couldn't stop reading it, and it was weird--I don't normally connect that well with ghost stories as I find it hard to suspend belief. But I still connected with this one so well.

The mystery elements had me guessing all the time as to what was really going on--and what would happen--and I couldn't predict it. It's really good.

The romance wasn't overstated or overbearing, and I really appreciated that.

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Review: SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear

 

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this gripping debut procedural, a young London policewoman must probe dark secrets buried deep in her own family's past to solve a murder and a long-ago disappearance.

Your father is a liar. But is he a killer?
Even liars tell the truth... sometimes.

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she's never been able to banish these ghosts. When she's called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn't get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice's husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat--her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn't telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds... 

--

I've had this book on my shelf for a while, and I don't know why I didn't pick it up for so long--because the moment I started it, I could not stop reading. Seriously, I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately and I finished off this book in just over two days. It's just amazing.

Right away, Frear introduces us to main character Cat and the dark secret she's hiding about her father. When she was a child, a girl went missing and she knows her father lied to the police. Now, an adult, Cat is a police detective. She's suffering with fragile mental health--PTSD following a gruelling murder case--and the new case she's on has links to the past, and her father.

This is just such a complex book. And it covers so much. Secrets and lies and betrayal. You've got complicated familial relationships, an examination of grief and one's desire to protect themselves.

The story is told across two timelines, and the inclusion of the flashbacks was particularly well done. Seriously, really good. They may have been short snippets but they not only fleshed out the past mystery but were placed wonderfully to spur on the present-day storyline too.

And the characterisation! So, this has to be my favourite thing about this book. Frear is masterful at creating believable characters. Every single one of them just leapt off the page. The dialogue for each was spot-on. I especially loved Steele, Cat's boss, but all of them were just so real and authentic.

And the twists! There's a huge twist around who the latest murder victim is, and that left me speechless. Well, I mean, there are many twists in the book, and I found myself really looking forward to the ends of chapters as nearly every one delivered some sort of twist or charged moment.

And the ending--so I hadn't been able to work out who the 'bad guy' was for so long. Every time I thought I knew, Frear was one step ahead. But learning the truth was so satisfying. It really worked. 

There's some dark content in this book: murder, child abuse, sex trafficking, grooming, baby factories, mental illness, and death. 

I'll definitely be looking out for the next book in this series.

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