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Are You Happy Now by Hanna Jameson
“That this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.” A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four people’s attempts at happiness despite a looming health…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adulthood, age gap, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, anxiety, Are You Happy Now, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, belonging, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, British author, contemporary malaise, dancers, DEATH, DEPRESSION, desire, divorce/separations, ennui, female authors, first love, gay, Hanna Jameson, heartbreak/breakups, i don’t think happiness is for me, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, journalism, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, m/m, male friendships, melancholy, mental health, musicians, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, pandemic, psychological, published in 2023, queer, read in 2022, restrained prose, right person wrong time, ROMANCE, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, strong sense of place, suicide, trauma, unrequited love, wedding drama, work culture -
Dele Weds Destiny by Tomi Obaro
This is one of those cases where the blurb for novel spoils said novel. Rather than giving us a broad-stroke summary of the story, the blurb reveals almost every plotline in the story, so while I was actually reading the novel myself, and I kept expecting something ‘new’ to happen, well, I ended up feeling…
1980s, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, abortion/miscarriage/bodily autonomy, Adult, age gap, America, Black & Black heritage authors, class, Contemporary, Dele Weds Destiny, divorce/separations, drama, eating disorders, female authors, female friendships, friendships, MARRIAGE, mothers & daughters, Nigeria, nigerian american author, published in 2022, read in 2022, self-harming, Tomi Obaro, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, wedding drama -
Mad about You by Mhairi McFarlane
2022 is proving to be an underwhelming reading year. With the exception of Either/Or by Elif Batuman and re-reads, I have only dished out 3, 2 and even a few 1 star ratings. So, when I got an arc for Mad About You I was convinced that McFarlane would be the one to break this…
1st pov, 3 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, BOOK REVIEWS, British author, Contemporary, drama, england, favourite authors, female authors, gay side characters, HUMOR, lgbtq+ side, light reads, Mad About You, MARRIAGE, My reviews, orphans, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, romcom, toxic relationships, wedding drama -
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Having recently enjoyed reading Kevin Kwan’s A Room With A View re-telling, I was seriously expecting to love Crazy Rich Asians. I went into it hoping for a light-hearted and fun read but was instead met with a snooze-inducing story, a horrid cast of poorly developed characters, and an abundance of crass humor. I grew…
2 STARS, 2010s, 3rd pov, Adult, affairs, America, American, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, bullying, cheating, China, class, Contemporary, Crazy Rich Asians, cultural dissonance, drama, girls hating girls, gossip & scandals, hong kong, HUMOR, kevin kwan, LGBTQ+ Author, male authors, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, My reviews, NEW YORK, Not Like Other Girls, playful style, published in 2013, read in 2022, reading, rich people, romcom, singapore, singaporean, singaporean american author, wedding drama -
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
In many ways Sex and Vanity was exactly the pulpy light-hearted read I was in dire need of. Kevin Kwan’s engrossing and entertaining storytelling made me speed through his book and I ended up finishing it in less than a day. As retellings go, this manages to be both (fairly) faithful and rather refreshing. What…
1st pov, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, asian american, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, class, Contemporary, dialogue heavy, drama, E.M. Forster, family, gossip & scandals, holidays, HUMOR, Italy, kevin kwan, LGBTQ+ Author, light reads, Long Island, male authors, MARRIAGE, My reviews, NEW YORK, new york state, PRIVILEGE, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, rich people, ROMANCE, romcom, satire, Sex and Vanity, singaporean american author, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer reads, travel, wedding drama -
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
and this was supposed to be a horror story? the only unsettling thing about this novella is that cover. Nothing But Blackened Teeth was probably my most anticipated October 2021 release, and boy, did it disappoint. I mean, given that N.K. Jemisin called it “Brutally delicious!” I went into this novella with high expectations. After…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, American, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Cassandra Khaw, drama, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, haunted house, HORROR, japan, lgbtq+, Malaysian author, My reviews, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, wedding drama -
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Originally published in 1946 The Honjin Murders is a locked-room murder mystery. Throughout the course of the novel, the author pays homage to Golden Age detective novels, by alluding directly to authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie and their works and by being quite self-aware when it comes to the conventions that…
1930S, 2 STARS, Adult, aristocracy, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CRIME, DETECTIVE, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, golden age detective fiction, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, locked-room mystery, male authors, manor/big house, My reviews, MYSTERY, published in 1946, read in 2021, reading, TRANSLATED FICTION, wedding drama, whodunnit -
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Perhaps I should not have requested an arc for People We Meet on Vacation as I was one of the few people who last was not particularly enamoured by Beach Read (i know, i know, the audacity). I actually ended up enjoying this more as I found it to be both funnier and a lot…
3 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, cheesy, Chicago, Contemporary, croatia, drama, Emily Henry, female authors, FRIENDS TO LOVERS, gay side characters, holidays, HUMOR, Italy, lgbtq+ side, light reads, m/m side, My reviews, netgalley, NEW YORK, ohio, published in 2021, queer side characters, read in 2021, rom-coms, ROMANCE, Summer, summer reads, travel, uplifting reads, wedding drama -
Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare
“So many secrets between them. So many lies.” That’s it. That’s the book. (i am only half joking) Actual review: Although Chain of Iron is one of Cassandra Clare’s least action/mystery driven books the drama between the various characters is sure to keep you turning pages. Chain of Iron picks up 4 months after its…
3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, adventure, Alastair Carstairs, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, bi side characters, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron, Cordelia Carstairs, curses, DEMONS, drama, Edwardian era, england, f/f side, fake dating, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, ghosts/spirits, great storytelling, HISTORICAL FICTION, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LONDON, m/m side, MAGIC, monsters, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, ROMANCE, serial killers, shadowhunters, siblings, The Last Hours, TLH, wedding drama, YOUNG ADULT -
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff
“When I think back on that it’s always with a sense of having lost something fragile and fleeting, something I can’t quite name.” I loved every single page of The Great Godden. This is one of those rare novels that is simultaneously simple and mesmerising: an unmanned narrator recounts the summer in which they fell…
1st pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, actors, AMERICAN AUTHOR, cheating, coming of age, Contemporary, england, family, female authors, first love, introspective, jealousy, lgbtq+ side, m/m side, Meg Rosoff, psychological, published in 2020, queer side characters, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, sea, siblings, Summer, summer reads, The Great Godden, theatre, unnamed narrator, unreliable narrators, unrequited love, wedding drama
luce [is reading] 