“I think we’re very similar, Nessa,” he whispers. “From the way you write, I can tell you’re a dark romantic like me. You like dark things.” Recently I read a nonfiction book which claimed that when reading a book “However you get it, you’ve got it right”. When I read those words I found them […]
More“I was afraid, really, of being the main character in my own life.” Promising Young Women is an intelligent and subversive novel that examines the darker and more twisted aspects of a relationship between a female employee and her boss. There was something about the story and its characters that reminded of Joyce Carol […]
MoreBlood Orange by Harriet Tyce ★★★✰✰ 2.5 stars Blood Orange left me feeling…not much at all. It might be because of the narrative, which is propelled by a protagonist who is the embodiment of a train-wreck, or it might be because of Tyce attempting to gross readers out trough lazily nauseating scenes, but this novel […]
MoreReview of The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang ★★★★✰ 4 that-was-bloody-intense stars This novel is incredibly engaging. I found myself desperate to read it as often as I could, because I was involved by the story Kuang has so vividly rendered. The storyline might seem a bit predictable at first – orphan goes to a special […]
MoreReview of Night Film by Marisha Pessl ★★★★★ 5 of 5 stars “As much as some people would like to believe, for their own peace of mind, that the appearance of evil in this world had a clean cause, the truth was never that simple.” Sometimes, if we are lucky enough, we ‘bump’ into […]
MoreThe Wicker King by K. Ancrum My rating: ★★★★✰ 4 The Wicker King was a quick and vivid read. Rather than chapters, this story is told through snippets: a page or two showing us one particular moment of August’s life. These brief glimpses perfectly bring to life each of the scenes/moments they portray: they are […]
MoreHow can I have ‘enjoyed’ or ‘liked’ this novel?Well…I did find myself flinching away from it a few times… Well, what can be said about Lolita that hasn’t been said? Who hasn’t heard of it? The influence this work has had on modern culture is astounding: just think that the meaning of the name Lolita […]
MoreWhile this might not be Lehane’s best novel, it is one of his most suspenseful ones.Having watched the screen adaptation years ago, I was worried that I would not be able to find the twist as shocking…well, I shouldn’t have worried. Lehane is always able to shock his readers.A story that thrums with tension, Shutter […]
MoreAn eerie and elegantly written novel that thrums with increasing suspense. Waters’ masterfully renders past times and The Little Stranger shows that she can faithfully write non-Victorian settings. The novel’s vivid atmosphere lacks the passion which we can find in other stories by Waters.This novel is rather slow paced: Dr. Faraday’s befriends the Ayreses who […]
More“Actors are by nature volatile–alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.” An enjoyable debut novel that delivers plenty of Shakespearean ‘nuggets’.To label this story a mystery is a mistake. It isn’t. It is quite obvious what has happened, […]
More