July was a surprisingly good reading month, lots of 5 star reads and lots of books read (I didn’t realise how many until I started the long task of writing reviews)! As usual reviews are ranked from best to worst. I would write more of an intro but I’m busy with the booktubeathon and work and know that if I try I just won’t post it any time soon, sorry!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary-Ann Shaffer (5 stars)
This book is a little unusual, it’s all written in letters. I thought I wouldn’t like it but I think it actually worked out really well, the letter format allows the reader to get to know all the characters very intimately without the extra burden that writing multiple points of view carries. It’s set shortly after WWII, Juliet is trying to come up with ideas for a new book and starts corresponding with someone in Guernsey who tells her all about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society, the German occupation and shares the love of books with her. I fell in love with the characters, the concept but especially, I’ve never had such a strong feeling of someone else understanding how deep my love of books is and how much they matter, it made me really happy to read it and I definitely added a lot of the books mentioned to my TBR. Definitely recommend, this is going on my favourite books ever shelf.
Almost Love by Louise O’Neill (5 stars)
This is a though one for me to review. Almost Love follows Sarah’s two relationships, both problematic for different reasons, each one of them reminding me of one of the two relationships I’ve had. I didn’t think the book was amazing, I didn’t particularly like Sarah or any of the other characters, but this is what did it for me. This is the first thing that has got through to me, lots of Sarah’s feelings were what I felt, things I felt were my fault and overreactions, dramatic, me not being mature enough. This is the first book that not only made me feel like someone got it and has experienced what I have (with some slight differences here and there) but it made me feel like it wasn’t my fault, when friends, professionals and plenty other books weren’t able to get that message across to me. If that isn’t enough to earn a 5 star rating, I don’t know what is.
Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore (5 stars)
I absolutely loved When The Moon Was Ours but I hadn’t read any of Anna-Marie McLemore other books. After some bookstagram friends told me Wild Beauty was their favourite I decided to finally pick it up. Like When The Moon Was Ours, Wild Beauty is filled with magical realism and LGBT representation. The Nomeolvides women, 5 per generation, are able to make flowers bloom from their fingertips, but their powers come at a cost. The land of La Pradera won’t let them leave, if they do they die. And additionally, all their lovers suddenly disappear. I loved the world, the story, the characters, and had I not read When The Moon Was Ours already, it would definitely be going on my favourites shelf and it convinced me that I have to read everything Anna-Marie McLemore ever writes.
What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli (5 stars)*
What If It’s Us is the perfect book about how imperfect relationships are, regardless of how much love is involved. I’ve read most of Adam Silvera’s books and loved them, and I also enjoyed most of Becky Albertalli’s books so I was really looking forward to this one. What I was most curious about was how the book would be given both writers having such different writing styles – what I’ve read of Adam Silvera usually involves romance that develops over time and not the happiest of themes or endings, while Becky Albertalli’s books tend to feature instalove, talks of destiny and very movie like scenes and happy endings. It’s very obvious from the start (maybe even the blurb, now that I am re-reading it) which writer writes which character – Ben is very clearly an Adam Silvera character, and Arthur is very clearly a Becky Albertalli character. There’s lots of non-happy topics covered, slow romance, instalove, movie like over the top scenes and both sides complement each other really well. I’m sure fans of either writer will be happy and satisfied with the book, regardless of whether or not they like the other writer, and fans of both will be surprised by how well they complement each other and how there are no compromises made – both authors have their style shine through the book fully.
Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch (4 stars)
Brit(ish) is about the search for identity, growing up in Britain with British parents but still being treated as an “other”, feeling like you don’t belong anywhere – being considered too British in Nigeria and too un-British in Britain, more subtle kinds of racism (like being asked where you’re from), how an entire country claiming to not see colour just perpetuates the issues rather than make them go away. I feel like a lot of the book spoke to me, though my identity issues are slightly different – I grew up being told I was white and then had that idea quickly taken away as soon as I left Guatemala, which wasn’t much of an issue in the US because I was just Latino, I belonged there, I had a community. However, in Britain I’m stuck having to thick the “other” box, always being told (either explicitly, or subtly) that I’m not white but feeling “too white” to call myself a person of colour, or BAME, and it put into words a lot of my feelings about racism in the UK. I’ve never experienced any violent acts of racism in Britain, and I did in the US, but I feel like my not being white is a bigger issue in my day to life here than it was over there. It also discussed what is classed as “black history” and the topic of immigration and how immigrants have been blamed for basically all of the problems in the UK for several years, the specific group of immigrants being the only thing that changes.
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (4 stars)
This book has been on my TBR and 5 star predictions lists for ages. I love coming of age stories written for adults and books with darker themes, so this one definitely fit the bill. Bastard Out of Carolina follows Bone, an illegitimate child, from birth through several moves and a challenging family situation. Her family, the Boatwrights, definitely has a strong personality and makes the book enjoyable and appealing despite the darker themes lurking around it. While reading it I couldn’t stop thinking about it and wondering what would happen to Bone, and that didn’t much change when I finished, which I take to be a sign of a good book but also one that I wish had been longer and wrapped up more nicely down the line rather than leave me hanging!
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale (4 stars)
After hearing Simon from Savidge reads rave about this book so much I finally decided to pick it up. Going into it I knew nothing about it (other than the title and author being said by Simon are stuck in my head) so I didn’t know what to expect. The book follows Harry Cane’s transition from wealthy Englishman to farm worker in rural Canada. I didn’t much care for Harry at the start of the book, but once I was around 30% in I couldn’t put it down. The characters are incredibly realistic, it’s definitely a character driven novel, but the plot had enough twists that I couldn’t put it down and I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I definitely enjoyed there being gay themes and how they were covered, and how each twist felt like another facet of Harry’s character development rather than just a twist for it’s own sake.
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (4 stars)
This book is about loss, friendship, grief, pain, love, trust, your entire world crumbling apart, running away, and being forced to face your issues. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since she left to go to college, but with her friend Mabel visiting she is forced to stop pretending the past didn’t happen, and face it. If you’re looking for a plot heavy book definitely stay away, the book is more of a character study of Marin and slowly exploring her past as she starts facing it. Despite the lack of plot, I couldn’t put it down and finished it all in one sitting, and it stirred a lot of emotions and feelings for me, a lot of Marin’s feelings and coping mechanisms reminded me of my own past and how I faced it, and how I continue to face it to this day.
There, There by Tommy Orange (4 stars)**
I heard this was a multigenerational story with Native American characters which made me think the book would be similar to Pachinko which I really loved. I’m not quite sure I would describe it as a multigenerational story, yes it does have characters from about 3 generations, but really the book is just using each character as a way to show a different challenge faced by Native American people. I found the different perspectives to be really confusing at first, due to how many there were, and to be honest even by the end there were a few characters that I couldn’t quite place, but I enjoyed the book. It’s definitely a more character driven novel than anything else, the little plot there is is just an excuse to have all of the different sides of the story come together at the end. I wish the book had been longer, but I think the topics covered – abuse, drug addiction, suicide, living in a community where these things are the norm, or living outside it but not by choice, are very important and communicated really well.
The Girl that Circumnavigated Fairy Land in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente (4 stars)
I was looking for a quick, easy read and this book definitely filled that spot for me. It follows September, a girl who goes to Fairyland and embarks on an adventure through the realm. Lately middle grade has been pretty hit and miss for me, I often feel like characters don’t have enough dept for me to truly enjoy them, and I thought that was the case with this book too, but I liked the world building and the writing style so I can definitely see myself going back and finishing the series at some point, it just won’t be any time soon.
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment and Growing Up Female in America (4 stars)*
I think this is really a book for everyone. The essays and writers are very diverse, in topics, backgrounds and writing styles, each connected by a main theme: growing up as a woman in the US, the challenges involved and the impact Trump’s election had. I found a lot of the essays to be devastating, but the book still had an overall theme of hope and empowerment and there’s a really good balance of describing the challenges various minority groups face without shying away from showing the raw emotions and the consequences but also being positive, hopeful and providing an alternative, the idea that change can be made, that your voice matters and will be heard. I found the essays on rape to be the ones that called to me the most, and there were essays I didn’t particularly enjoy, but I’m sure there is an essay here for everyone. I just wish there had been trans authors as well, and at the moment I can’t remember whose essay it was but there was an essay that used male pronouns for Caitlyn Jenner which was a bit off-putting, especially for a collection trying so hard to be diverse and inclusive.
The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan (3 stars)
I enjoyed The Gracekeepers so I was excited when I won The Gloaming on a giveaway. However, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I’m not entirely sure why, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters and hence I didn’t really care about what would happen to them which made the book really hard to enjoy and get through. The writing was beautiful, I liked the setting and seeing how folklore was intertwined into the story but something about the characters just didn’t do it for me.
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (3 stars)
I’ve read the entire Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, the Kane Chronicles and I read the first book in the Trials of Apolo series. I considered myself to be a hardcore Riordan fan when I was younger and I loved all of his books. However, The Sword of Summer kinda just feels like the exact same thing as all other books, it feels as if the characters are the same, the plot is the same, the humour is the same, the ending is the same, everything feels as if it was just a copy of previous Riordan books. I do like the fact that he clearly made an effort to be more diverse by including a muslim main character, though on the other hand the fact that he’s written so many books and Sam stands out so much isn’t really a good sign. Not sure I’ll be finishing the series, but right now I don’t really care to.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (2 stars)
I read this book because I heard it was similar to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society. It’s also written in letters and it mentions books a lot, that’s about as far as the similarities go (as far as I could tell). It kinda felt more like a collection of invoices and business transactions than a book and I found it incredibly tedious to read. Perhaps I’d liked it more if I hadn’t read it immediately after The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society and had such high expectations, but it’s not the book for me and if it hadn’t been as short as it is I would have DNFd it.
( * ) Disclaimer: I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review (** ) Disclaimer: I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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