The Painter's Daughters by Emily Howes - Review

This was the book club book choice for December and I hadn't ever heard of it or the author, but I was happy to read it. It was a good choice for our book club, I think. We talked about it at our December meeting, which is also a meal and a bit of a social, so I'm not sure we actually talked about the book for very long. But I think we liked it.

It is about the daughters of the painter Thomas Gainsborough, Molly and Peg. The book is told from Peg's point of view and starts with her as quite a small child when the family lived in Ipswich. Gainsborough genuinely did paint his daughters and the author has used this as a springboard to imagine the lives of the family, and has maybe used a rumour as part of her work too? I like this blurring of fact and fiction. 

Molly has funny turns in the book and Peg tries to control her and corral her into behaving. She desperately wants her dad to love her more but he is distant and forgetful about her. The girls' mother rules the house and the finances. There is a rumour that her father was a royal prince, and part of the book is from Peg's grandmother's point of view showing what happened to her. We felt like these chapters were a little jarring and took us out of the main narrative, and it wasn't clear how the two parts were related until quite a way on into the book. 

The family moves to Bath where the girls, their mother hopes, will marry well and make enough money to keep themselves. The girls are kept inside, away from people, while their father paints all the society people who want him to, and perhaps has an affair or two. Peg falls in love but it's Molly who gets married, despite her illness and the episodes where she disassociates. 

I generally liked the book and found it compelling, it kept me reading. But the story just didn't quite gel for me, so I'm giving it three out of five. 

Frankie by Graham Norton - Review

You may know that I really like Graham Norton's books. I really rate him as a celebrity who is also an author, unlike some people we could mention. I always look forward to another of Graham's books, so when I realised I hadn't got to this one yet, I requested it at the library. 

The story is about a woman called Frankie. She is elderly now and her friend Norah has hired a carer for her after a fall, while she recuperates. The two live in London now, but they're from the same small town in Ireland and have known each other since they were little. Nor is worth a lot of money; Frankie lives in a flat crammed with things which are all a bit faded glamour. The carer is called Damian. He is gay, and also Irish. He is young but he and Frankie forge a friendship and she tells him about her life. 

After a tragic start, Frankie was brought up by her aunt and uncle, a conservative couple who kept her very sheltered. She was married off to a much older man who was a Church of Ireland vicar. He treated Frankie terribly and the marriage failed. Her relatives, outraged by this, disown her. She ends up in London where she meets Nor again. She ends up in New York where she becomes a chef eventually, and meets Joe, who is an artist. It's the 60s and 70s and they're in basically Warhol's world. Time goes on and other things come up. I loved Frankie and her life. She's a strong character and utterly likeable. I liked that the story concerned the Church of Ireland in the beginning because I feel like I haven't read books about that very often. Frankie thinks that she isn't the main character of her own life and I kind of get what she means, but the story IS about her and her backbone and strength throughout her life. 

I liked the device of telling Damian her story, it sort of brought together old Ireland and new Ireland. I liked the book a lot, can't wait for his next one! I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Amazing Edie Eckhart - The Friend Mission by Rosie Jones - Review

You know I love Rosie Jones' Edie Eckhart series. Edie is twelve years old and has cerebral palsy and is in the queer community. I love her so much. Ive enjoyed both books about her and am eagerly awaiting the next. I requested this at the library and they bought it for me. I love it when that happens! Libraries are so good! I hope the next person to find this book enjoys it too.

It is a World Book Day novella so it isn't very long, but I still enjoyed the story. Edie is starting Year 8 at school and there's a new girl in her class, Mia. Mia is American and she has a hearing impairment and wears hearing aids. Edie wants them to be immediate friends! And she wants to get to know Mia's twin, Benjamin! But she is a bit too enthusiastic so it takes a while to win Mia around.

There's not much else to say about this but I did really like it. I hope the next full book comes along soon! I'm giving this four out of five. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - Review

This was the book club choice for November and it was quite a departure for us. I've had this book on my shelf for years but had never got round to it, so I was glad to have an excuse to finally get to it. I got it in a Christmas swap a few years ago. I also know a bunch of people that have raved about this book, which really made me want to read it too! 

But then I ended up really not liking it. But neither did my friend Janet, and she and I often have very similar taste in books. I slogged my way through this and was interested to see what book club made of it. Mostly people had liked it, but I felt it was one of those where if people had just had a conversation with each other things could have been much simpler. Which yes would have meant no plot, but then I wouldn't have had to read the stupid book in the first place. 

The two main protagonists are Sam and Sadie. They are both gamers. They meet firstly when Sam is in hospital when he's about twelve years old. He has been disabled in the car crash which killed his mother and is now living in LA with his grandparents. Sadie's sister has cancer and is in the same ward as Sam. Sam is playing Oregon Trail one day when Sadie comes in and starts playing too. It turns out she can visit Sam and have it count as volunteering for her bat mitzvah, and she racks up nearly a thousand hours with Sam. When he finds this out, he feels betrayed, he feels like their friendship wasn't real. The two fall out and their friendship ends. 

Then when they are about twenty they meet again. They are both at college in Boston and they end up forging a friendship again. Sadie is at college for programming and is in a relationship with one of her professors, who is a total dick. Sam and Sadie start to write a game together and it gets noticed. Eventually they start a company with Marx, who is a friend of Sam's and who has a lot of money. He wants to be in LA so he like manipulates both Sam and Sadie into moving back there. Sadie and he eventually start a relationship. Sam and Sadie fall out again and Sam does something which really annoyed me late on in the book. Mostly throughout I had a lot of sympathy for him and found Sadie really selfish, but this incident really annoyed me and left me feeling sour about him. 

There's a lot about gaming in the book which I did quite like and as I'm a casual gamer myself and married to a hardcore gamer it is something I know a lot about, but I think if you weren't in that world it would be more difficult to understand. I thought Marx was just too perfect which annoyed me too. I liked Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin so I was disappointed by this and can only give it two out of five. 

The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister writing as S J Fleet - Review

 

I was intrigued to read this book because I know the Secret Barrister from social media and thought their first book would be good. However it really didn't live up to the hype and I wouldn't try hard to read anything else by the same author. It needed a much better edit and it was confusing in parts. I also thought there were far too many points of view which I do kind of understand as a narrative device, because it's a criminal case, but it's annoying to read.

So early in the hours of New Year's Day 2024, the body of a 70 something year old man is found on the streets. He has been stabbed by an illegal knife - a zombie knife - and two youths were arrested at the scene and one was found really close by at the same time too. The three young lads are all saying that the other ones did it. There are text conversations between two of them where they talk about bashing a random person until they're dead. The prosecution has a lot of evidence - blood all over the accused, the knife, and text messages saying this was the kind of thing they might be in to. The prosecutor, Aliyah, has a lot to prove - she fucked up an earlier case and needs to repair her reputation. 

Parts of the novel are from her point of view. Parts are from the points of view of two of the accused lads. They both have had difficult lives and it wouldn't be hard to believe that they are cold killers. There's also the point of view of one of their defence lawyers, because she also has a personal interest in the case.

I really struggled with this book as I said, and can only give it three out of five. 

Tart by Becki Jayne Crossley - Review

I got this book on Netgalley because I liked the sound of it, so thank you very much to Bloomsbury Publishing for granting me access to it. I was provided with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes, but was not otherwised compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

It felt like a really long time since I had read a good YA book, especially one set in the UK, so I was keen to get stuck into this. It is set in a small town in the UK and I could picture it perfectly. 

Libby is in her first year of sixth form when a video of her kissing another boy goes viral amongst her school friends. This would be bad enough, but it happens on the same night that her boyfriend Dan gets knocked down by a car  and is in a coma. He is yet to wake up weeks, months later, and no one knows what will happen to him. Libby is ostracised and left friendless. But there's a new girl in the area - Neha. She is from a bigger area and she's proudly out and queer; she has a gaggle of queer friends that she misses dreadfully now she's had to move. She and Libby get close and Libby begins to question her feelings for Neha - but of course there is the question of Dan still. But there are a lot of secrets and explanations rattling around this book, which I felt were revealed really well. 

I really liked the book and would definitely read something else by the same author. I liked the queer representations and the queer joy that was really gentle - like Libby and her new friends visiting a cafe that they liked. I'm giving this four out of five. 

This book is out now for purchase. 

Given Vol 3 by Natsuki Kizu

 

Absolutely forever ago my friend Chloe lent me all the volumes of this graphic novel, which is based on a band called Given who in the first book haven't even met and who throughout the series get closer. I found them all after my move and am really trying to make my way through them mostly so I can have them back to Chloe. I've had them way too long! 

In this book Uenoyama realises he's in love with Mafuyu and they kiss each other just before the band plays their first live gig. But Uenoyama doesn't say anything to Mafuyu so they're just both confused Jaruki has a massive crush on Akhiko, but Akhiko is seeing someone else so that's really confusing too. These boys are just all useless and need to chat.

This review just doesn't need to be that long. I enjoyed the progession of the story. I liked the artwork, as previously. I'm giving this four out of five. I'm writing this in mid December, I wonder if I could get to the rest of the series soon?