Review: Flip-Flops and Murder

Flip-Flops and Murder by H.Y. Hanna
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first experience with cosy mystery wasn't a total flop! :D

The story follows Ellie as she travels from her home in London to a fancy resort in Florida for a holiday she's been invited on by her aunt. Only, her aunt is nowhere to be found and then a dead body turns up. What a holiday!

I listened to this on audible, and it allowed me to follow the story without being so hyper-focused on all the clues that I was solving as I went. I enjoyed kind of just relaxing back into the chill vibe of the story. The narrator had this perfect 'sweet lil old lady' vibe going that suited the story perfectly. *chef's kiss*

Ellie is so friggin wholesome but at the same time she really does stick her nose into everything! Like, one minute she's becoming BFFs with EVERYONE SHE SPEAKS TO, but then the body turns up and she spends the rest of the book running around accusing everyone of nefarious deeds to their faces XD I found it hilarious actually. How these people still liked her is the real mystery here.

There's also a parrot, and a cat, so if you're into mischievous animals you'll appreciate them.

I was never hugely invested in the characters or the story, but all the same it was just really easy listening. I think I'd have been bored if I'd read it, but listening made it a lot easier to enjoy.

Doubtful I'll continue the series, but I did enjoy my first taste of cosy mystery.

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Review: The Girl in the Tree

The Girl in the Tree by Şebnem İşigüzel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was so dull I literally fell asleep listening to it.

Plot: ... oh, wait. I don't think there is one. It's basically just a girl in a tree rambling about her family for a ridiculously long time.

I opted for the audio on this one and honestly I don't think it really made a difference- I zoned out instead of having to just skim a whole lot. I'm not joking about falling asleep - I must have dozed through at least 20min of this book and still didn't feel like I'd missed anything.

The problem is that it's just a billion or so anecdotes from this girl's life featuring her two best friends, her mother, grandmother, aunts, etc. and all the details of their tiresome lives. Only it's not told in any logical kind of order - it's just the girl talking about whatever random thought she has next. A large part of the story focuses on how this one time a teacher told her she was a terrible writer and honestly I couldn't help but agree with the teacher. Maybe that's why this book was written so terribly? To lend it authenticity? Intentional or not, it did not work for me at all.

It flits between a bunch of random times in the past as well as the present where she's up a tree and flirting with this dude who works nearby. Their relationship is obviously important to the story but I just did not care one bit.

And that right there pretty much sums up my entire feelings about this book: I DID NOT CARE.

There are some dark themes about political unrest and defining freedom and all manner of violence and abuse, but they just could not hook me. I feel like the meat of a good story is here but the narrator ruins it by never letting you sit in those moments and feel anything. She just jumps straight back into that one time a teacher told her she was a terrible writer.

The bonus star is for the potential, and a ray of hope for people who have more patience than me. But for me it was mind-numbingly boring from start to finish.

If you're not hooked on the style after the first 50 pages, you may not want to bother. It honestly doesn't get much more dynamic, and there's no real chronology to it so if you're not interested straight away you're unlikely to become interested later.

I hope others get more out of it than I did, though.

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Review: Lakesedge

Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Eugh, this ended up being so disappointing.

The blurb promises darkness, monsters, gods. What we get is pieces of other people's stories woven together by a really thin premise: a 'corruption' is taking over and only Leta has the power to save the world.

*eyeroll*

So here we have: Beauty and the Beast and The Secret Garden, with a little bit of SJM's A Court of Thorns and Roses thrown in for good measure. Leta is forced to stay at this horrible mansion with all of its luxuries under the watchful glare of its mysterious, monstrous lord. Rowan is of course the brooding, misunderstood monster who really just needs love to cure all of his ails.

Everything about this book frustrated me.

I think we're supposed to be impressed by how fearless and headstrong Violeta is but honestly she annoyed me so much. She keeps doing stupid things because she selfishly believes she's the only one capable of doing anything, and she totally smothers her brother under the pretext of 'protecting' him. She argues about everything and yet somehow everyone is impressed by her? (view spoiler)[For example, everyone was so surprised and impressed she gave up her magic to save her brother? But I'm just like, of course she did?? Since when could magic ever be more important than your brother's life?! (hide spoiler)]

Rowan also did nothing for me because he's your typical control freak who likes to just yell at people to not do things but never actually explain anything, all while awkwardly hitting on Leta then pushing her away in an endless cycle.

The story is so ridiculously repetitive and pointless. Basically, there's a 'corruption' that the gang needs to fix. But it's just constantly the same thing: corruption is bad -> ritual to combat corruption -> ritual goes wrong -> corruption is still bad -> ritual -> goes wrong -> REPEAT ENDLESSLY.

PLUS the bonus of: I really like him -> but he's a monster -> but he's just misunderstood - but he'd never want me -> so I'm totally not into him -> but I like him a lot -> but he's a monster -> not really though -> ETC FOR ETERNITY.

Kill me now.

This whole thing was pointless and painful and repetitive and didn't deliver any of the darkness I was hoping for.

I'm so bummed.

If you're into that whole, 'mysterious brooding monster man falls for Perfectly Ordinary yet Feisty Female' trope you're gonna love this trash. Personally, I felt like so much of this story was just done better elsewhere.

Definitely won't be reading the inevitable sequel.

With thanks and apologies to Macmillan for sending me a copy

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Review: The Final Girl Support Group

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars from me.

I didn't like these ladies quite as much as the Vampire Hunter Book Club ladies, but they still provided some fun times. Less creepy, more violent. Happy days for the Final Girls!

The story revels in 90s slasher film references and introduces a group of 'final girls' - the girls who conquered the murderer at the end of their relevant killing spree and came out on top. Only now someone is after them again, all at once, and they'll have to use everything they learnt from their past experiences to stay alive.

There are many familiar stories here, so if you're a fan of horror films like Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, etc. then you will likely have a lot of fun matching familiar characters to their real-world fictional counterparts. Still, even without picking up all the references this is still an enjoyable, chaotic story.

I really enjoyed Lynette's character, not because I liked her - actually, I despised her a fair bit for being so cowardly - but because of how real her behaviour seemed. Hendrix gives full respect to trauma in that he delves into how it might change a person. Lynette is paranoid and constantly terrified, and it means her behaviour is completely understandable, even if she's not the hero you'd prefer her to be. Honestly, she's kind of pathetic.

The other characters are fun, which means its a little sad they're not fleshed out as much as I'd have liked. You still grow to understand their characters, but there were too many of them with too little screen time to get a proper idea of who they were and what drove them until the story was almost over. I also couldn't work out their ages? I got the impression right at the start that they were older, but they seem to act pretty spry still so I have no idea what age group these people were in.

The action came hard and fast and had plenty of variety with a good dose of mayhem. It was unpredictable so I was swept up in it and never really had an idea of who was behind it all. I guess I was too busy keeping up to look for clues, which made it more enjoyable for me.

The plot wasn't quite as solid as I would have liked, though it was still clear and easy to follow. I enjoyed how all of the characters had their own stories, but even though I knew they were based on films from our world, I wanted to know more about these girls and their stories. It felt like there was so much focus on Lynette and her experiences that everyone else kind of got skimmed over. It wasn't a deal-breaker, but it left me pretty curious and unsatisfied.

That being said, it was a highly addictive read from start to finish so overall it won me over.

Not quite the same calibre as The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires but definitely still an enjoyable read with plenty of chaos and mayhem to keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Review: The Cat Who Saved Books

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Still not a cat person.

The story is about Rintaro Natsuki, who has just lost his grandfather. He's a bit of an outcast because of his hermit ways, so once his grandfather passes he decides to skip school (no one will miss him) and instead seeks refuge at Natsuki Books - his grandfather's secondhand bookstore. It's a solid plan until a talking cat shows up and asks Natsuki to help him rescue some books.

From the get-go, this cat is kind of a jerk. I think there might be some translation issues, too, because it's a cute, sweet story but then things sometimes get a bit more heated than you'd expect. I think that's probably because there's a lack of English words to match the Japanese words used. Still, there's no question that this cat is a jerk in Japanese, too. He just shows up, whisks the poor kid away and says, 'goodluck, coz if you fail you'll never get home again.' Then the kid has to do all this smooth talking about how amazing books are.

Now here's one thing I did really enjoy: the books. The love for books. Natsuki is a hardcore booklover, so he speaks enthusiastically about how books can be enjoyed slow or fast, how books teach us things, and transport us, and how even though less people are reading, books have no lesser value for it. I mean, he did get pretty preachy at times (apparently it's good to hate books because it means they're teaching you something - I strongly disagree) but overall he's just a giant book nerd like the rest of us and that's something I can get behind.

For a short book, it does kind of harp on for a long time, but I think kids will get a lot out of this one. It's a really cute story about friendship, empathy, identity, and books. Featuring a cat. Who is a jerk.

It won't be deep enough for some, but this is a warm pick-me-up for people looking for something a little more fuzzy. It has some interesting ideas about books but ultimately it's about showing compassion to others and treating people (and books!) with respect. Can't complain about that message at all.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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Review: The One Impossible Labyrinth

The One Impossible Labyrinth by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh man. It's really over.

What a fkn EPIC finale!

Loved every second.

***

Happy Release Day!

Finally I can share my thoughts!

Honestly, this is exactly the book I wanted and then MORE. I don't think any fan that has come this far could possibly be disappointed.

Heart-stopping moments. Tense battles. Epic puzzles. Dramatic deaths. All brought together by that insane, way-over-the-top action that we know and love as the signature of Matthew Reilly.

All of our favourites are here, battling it out once again to save humanity.

But even with the fast pace of the story, the themes of the entire series still make themselves known, and through Jack and his team we once again pause to appreciate the importance of family, friends, and loved ones in all forms. Love, loyalty, honour ... it's all here, and that's the heart of this series. That's certainly the hook I was reeled in on.

That being said, don't think the action stops for even a second!

I felt this to be an incredibly satisfying conclusion to a series I've loved from start to finish. It delivered exactly the kick I hoped for, and it tied everything up so neatly which I feel was the ending the series deserved.

Many thanks to Macmillan for an early copy

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Review: She is Haunted

She is Haunted by Paige Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I finished this and I'm pretty sure I didn't understand any of it but I still kinda liked it? *shrugs*

Some of the stories are straight up bizarre and seem to be pointless, but others had me really sucked in and feeling real things. Pretty much all of them end awkwardly, though, so be prepared to work out all the meanings yourself.

I liked that some were long while others were nice and short. There was almost a dystopian element to some of the tales, but overall it had a very contemporary feel. The stories are about people and relationships, rather than any logical kind of action, so I think once you get used to that it's easier to appreciate.

Still, I do really loathe that 'literary fiction' usually means 'totally vague and nonsensical'.

I definitely liked some stories more than others, and some had me really scratching my head wondering what the heck I was supposed to take from it, but in the end I somehow managed to enjoy the randomness of it all.

It won't be for everyone, but for those who think themselves clever for untangling symbolism and hidden meanings, this will be a treat.

With thanks to A&U for a copy.

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