Review: Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another Audible win!

Apparently I enjoy thrillers more in audio format. I actually listen properly! How fun.

This one starts with a murder, and that's not even the focus of the plot! How cool is that! The story is about Quinn running after murdering her husband and ending up in this dingy motel that has a lot of secrets. Ooooh.

I really enjoyed the narration, and am impressed at how easily I told the characters apart. Nice work with the differentiation. The characters each have their own secrets and it's fun to guess at who is hiding what.

The pace is helped along by big revelations followed by changing viewpoints, which is equal parts frustrating and fun. The different perspectives round out the story really well and help to fill in the blanks slowly so that the tension stays tight throughout.

Some great twists, here, too, as well as great character development.

Really enjoyed this one! These last two audiobooks have given me greater respect for audiobooks in general so I'll definitely be dabbling more.

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Review: The Wolf Den

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic read!

There was actually such a wonderful lack of smut for a book set in a brothel. I appreciated that so much!

The story follows Amara, a brothel slave who works for Felix. She and her fellow whores work for the Wolf Den, with their sole role being the pleasing of men. However Amara wasn't always a slave, and she'll do whatever it takes to win her freedom back.

I really, really loved Amara's character. She does some morally questionable things that really drive home that she will honestly do WHATEVER IT TAKES and I think it was really important to the story. She's a fierce heroine, yet she's still loyal to her friends. She fights, but she makes smart calls, too. There's more to her than just whoring, but that's also a huge part of who she is.

The themes are quite dark, with slavery and prostitution obviously sitting at the forefront. Agency and self-worth, basic human rights. It was quite fascinating to me to read all about it, and it was interesting to see how all the different men Amara interacted with treated her and the other working girls.

There was certainly a lot in this story to unpack, but the writing helped everything flow so well, dancing around different ideas at different times. I found it to be an easy, addictive read and could easily have read it all in one sitting if I'd had the time.

An excellent read, and I'll definitely read the next one. Thanks Juliette for the recommendation!

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Review: Stiletto

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A chunky read and yet still ridiculously addictive.

WARNING: this review contains spoilers for The Rook

This book is so much bigger in scope than The Rook and adds a couple more protagonists to share the load.

Felicity is a Rook, and Odette is a Grafter. Negotiations are underway to have the two organisations work together, but things are not going smoothly. Added to that, people are dying all over the place and supernatural happenings are keeping everything tense.

This book tells a lot of back stories, and it likes to include plenty of absurd details. I'm not usually one with patience for absurd but in this story it works really well. I enjoyed how bizarre things got and appreciated the long-winded explanations of strange things. It was actually such a fun part of the story.

Added to that, there's plenty of non-stop action. The sheer number of outfits that were destroyed throughout this book is ridiculous. Poor Odette just could not stay clean.

Myfawny is there, too, keeping everything in order. She's really come a long way since her amnesia of the first book and it's great to see how her character has developed.

Once again, this book was just buckets of fun. It's definitely a long one, so some patience is required, but I found it to be an addictive, fun thriller with some fantastically horrific moments. It's such an interesting mix of fantasy, sci fi, horror and comedy.

Highly recommend this series for those looking for a unique supernatural thriller that will keep you guessing.

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Review: Fat Girl Dancing

Fat Girl Dancing by Kris Kneen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fattastic, insightful read that will particularly resonate if you've ever lived in a bigger body.

I really enjoyed this, but at times it was really f*king depressing and it got to me. I appreciate the frankness, but it also broke me a bit.

It's a memoir, and it winds around with the thread of the story being a self-portrait the author wishes to create.

It explores a love of the water and adventures in diving; it explores art and eventually brings us to the dancing hinted at by the title. As someone who loves dance I wanted more of the latter, and felt a little cheated by the title since there wasn't more.

Still, the approach to each facet of her story with such brutal honesty was something I loved and could relate to in quite a few places.

There are plenty of awful moments here that had me feeling second-hand shame, and it was that feeling that repeatedly had me setting down the book in favour of something cheerier. At the same time, it was addictive to read about experiences similar to my own so I never stayed away long.

This is a candid account of a person in a fat body trying to find acceptance in a world that is not designed for fat bodies. It's raw and upfront and I really enjoyed it.

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