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House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
“Dark, dangerous things happened around the Hollow sisters.” Brimming with beauty and danger House of Hollow is a spellbinding modern fairy tale. Written in a tantalising prose that seems to echo traditional fairy tales House of Hollow presents its readers with a beguiling tale about sisters and monsters. “We were taken. We came back. None…
1st pov, 4 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, atmospheric, AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, creepy setting, dark fantasy, england, FAIRY TALES, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, female authors, girlhood, great storytelling, HORROR, House of Hollow, it’s about the *aesthetics*, Krystal Sutherland, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LONDON, MAGIC, MAGICAL DOORS, missing girls, missing persons, monsters, My reviews, MYSTERY, PARANORMAL, portal fantasy, published in 2021, queer, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, road trip, scotland, SISTERS, URBAN FANTASY, YOUNG ADULT -
Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane
This is the fifth novel that I have read by Mhairi McFarlane and it is her best one yet. I said this in my review for her previous novel, If I Never Met You, but McFarlane is always improving as a writer. While Last Night presents readers with her trademark blend of humor of realism,…
1st pov, 5 STARS, Adult, arc, child abuse, cliques, Contemporary, DEATH, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, england, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, gay side characters, GRIEF, GUILT, HUMOR, identity, introspective, Last Night, lgbtq+ side, mental health, Mhairi McFarlane, netgalley, Nottingham, published in 2021, read in 2021, road trip, rom-coms, ROMANCE, scotland, scottish british author, siblings, unrequited love -
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
Her Royal Highness is the book equivalent of cotton candy: fluffy and sweet. This was an exceedingly cute, occasionally silly, and thoroughly enjoyable f/f romance. Her Royal Highness is escapist fiction at its finest. Her Royal Highness is an easy read that delivers a sweet romance between two very different girls: we have Millie, an…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, academia, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, f/f, female authors, FLUFFY READ, Her Royal Highness, HUMOR, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, light reads, published in 2019, queer, Rachel Hawkins, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2021, ROMANCE, royals, sapphic, scotland, texas, uplifting reads, YOUNG ADULT -
Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
“What we had that day was our story. We didn’t have the other bit, the future, and we had no way of knowing what that would be like. Perhaps it would change our memory of al of this, or perhaps it would draw from it, nobody knew. But I’m sure I felt the story of…
1980s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, Adult, ageing, Andrew O'Hagan, boyhood, Contemporary, england, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, male friendships, Manchester, Mayflies, MEMORY, music, netgalley, published in 2020, read in 2020, scotland, scottish author -
The Less Dead by Denise Mina — book review
The Less Dead is a gripping, if bleak, piece of tartan noir. When sex workers, drug addicts, migrant workers, and otherwise marginalised groups are victims of murder, they are called the ‘less dead’. Their deaths are less important, not as ‘impactful’. Denise Mina’s novel, in a similar vein to recent releases such as Long Bright…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, addiction, ADOPTION, BOOK REVIEW, cheating, class, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, dead girls, Denise Mina, female authors, lgbtq+ side, mothers & daughters, netgalley, Noir, obsession, Poverty, prostitution, published in 2020, rape, read in 2020, REVIEW, scotland, scottish author, serial killers, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, SUSPENSE, Tartan Noir, The Less Dead, THRILLER, violence against women -
The Missing Years : Book Review
The Missing Years by Lexie Elliott ★★★✰✰ 3 stars The story had some potential, which is why I was very frustrated by the way the storyline developed. To begin with, I was absorbed by the setting of the novel: a creepy manor in Scotlandwhere the main character, Ailsa, lived as child. After her father’s mysterious…
1st pov, 3 STARS, BOOK REVIEW, creepy setting, domestic thriller, drama, family, female authors, GOTHIC, Lexie Elliott, manor/big house, missing fathers, missing men, missing persons, modern gothic, MYSTERY, psychological, published in 2019, READ IN 2019, REVIEW, scotland, scottish author, SISTERS, summer reads, SUSPENSE, The Missing Years, THRILLER, village