Jen's Book Blog

2021 Book #16 – The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow

Medium – Book

About the Book – Audrey and Ivy are two students at the prestigious Illumen Hall on the South Coast of England. The school is famous and well-regarded, with a strange obsession with magpies. Ivy is a straight-A student who lives in a council flat in London outside of term-time, Audrey is an American sweetheart with a rich daddy who moves to the UK after trauma in her past. Before Audrey arrives, the normally kind and friendly school experiences a terrible event – at an end-of-term party, the popular and beautiful Lola Radcliffe is found dead on the local beach with an elaborate tattoo of a magpie on her back. Soon after term restarts, a mysterious podcast airs, with the headline ‘I know who killed Lola. And one of you is next’.

My Rating – 3.5/5

My Thoughts – This book was part of one of the YA book boxes I get, and came with a whole set of bookish treats under the theme of ‘Secret Societies’. It’s a book I have mixed feelings about, so I will discuss what I enjoyed first, and then not so much. So, firstly, I really liked the burgeoning friendship between Ivy and Audrey – they start off really hating each other, but come to like each other regardless of their differences. They are likeable characters, and Ivy especially is someone that manages to be kind and caring without losing her edge. The school seems generally quite a nice place to be – a bit of cattiness and bitching, but no huge bullying rings etc. The plot was engrossing and kept my interest. The descriptions of both main characters’ anxieties and panic attacks are believable. I read the book quickly and needed to finish it before I could go to sleep – the sign of a good book!

So – what wasn’t so good? There were some bits of the book which weren’t as well written. The book is written by two authors and I did wonder if one of the characters was written by one of the authors and one the other, as I found Ivy’s chapters generally better written than Audrey’s. For a YA book there is an awful lot of swearing. I am a little sensitive to swearing in books, but generally expect it in more ‘adult’ books. The swearing just seemed a little randomly placed. The descriptions of the characters are a bit laboured – every character is defined by their skin colour before any other aspects. I love that the authors made the school so multi-cultural, but the descriptions of the colour of each of the characters’ skintones just seemed a bit clumsy. Another aspect I thought could have been done ‘better’ in this age of interactivity was the online elements – a website is provided but doesn’t really link anywhere, a podcast is mentioned which could have been created. It just seems like the book’s PR teams missed a trick.

2021 Book #15 – Nimona

Medium – Book (Graphic Novel)

About the Book – Nimona is a shape-shifter, who can shift into any real creature (this includes dragons!) or human. She has a real knack for villainy, and is not afraid to get her hands/claws/teeth dirty in becoming a villain. She becomes the sidekick of Lord Ballister Blackheart – a villain who is out for revenge on his ex-friend/love interest, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics. With the help of Nimona, Blackheart begins to win the battle between good and evil, but soon it is revealed that the ‘heroes’ are not the heroes everyone thinks they are, and our villains might have to do some good to reveal the Institution’s nefarious actions.

My Rating – 5/5

My Thoughts – This book is one that has not been in my TBR pile for long, but I am so glad that I picked it up – although it should be said that I wasn’t the one who chose it. I filled in a form on a website for ‘Mr B’s Book Emporium’ in Bath with my reading preferences and books I have read and enjoyed this year, and they sent me a list of four that they thought I would enjoy. They were offering a discount if I bought all four – so I decided to go for it. I would DEFINITELY recommend their book finding service if you are looking for something new to read – it was quick and easy to do, and so far, the first of my books was definitely one I am keeping!

So, more about the book. I am not a usual graphic novel reader. I like cartoons and have enjoyed reading comic books in the past, but I can’t say that I would pick out a comic to read over a narrative book. But I loved this one. I basically sat for 1.5 hours last night and finished it off – it was one of those books that I could not put down until I had got to the end. The characters were amazing – there were only five really main characters – Nimona, Blackheart, Goldenloin, Dr Blitzmeyer and the Head of the Institution, but each were well developed. I really enjoyed the little asides when Nimona and Blackheart were together and sort of getting used to each other – getting pizza, watching movies etc. The illustrations are beautiful and the characters each have their own style, which I enjoyed. Nimona also isn’t your strightforward stick-thin heroine either – appreciated!

The storyline is wonderful and I thought the relationship between Goldenloin and Blackheart was really well done. You can’t quite tell when the novel is set – you have lots of medieval elements (knights, peasants, swords), but also futuristic technology like laser guns. The characters really made you want to root for them. I would definitely be open to more graphic novels in the future – especially those with more subversive heroines and plotlines.

2021 Book #14 – The Castle of Tangled Magic

Medium – Book

About the Book – Olia is the descendent of Russian royalty, though now an ordinary person, and she lives in the beautiful Castle Mila, which has a huge number of domes. She lives with her parents (her mother is a character from a previous book by Sophie Anderson), her newborn sister Rosa and her grandmother. One day, a huge storm comes upon Castle Mila and almost destroys it. Olia realises that she, like her grandmother, can see magic and steps into a magical world, tangled by magic, where her task is to defeat a scheming wizard and save her castle. She soon learns that she must try and save the magical world as well, and joins with her new friends to try and protect them from danger as well as protect the home she loves so much.

My Rating – 4/5

My Thoughts – This is the third of the Sophie Anderson books that I have read and another that I really enjoyed. I can’t say that I found it quite as gripping as ‘The Girl who Speaks Bear’ (review here) or ‘The House with Chicken Legs’ (review here), but I did find that it had a similar feel to the other two books, and I liked the Russian, fairytale setting. The storyline was interesting – it almost felt that it was at an end half-way through, but then extra information was added to continue the story and add to the anticipation and excitement. I really enjoyed the ‘Land of Forbidden Magic’ that Anderson created, with all the different domes and spirits which corresponded to all the domes on Olia’s real-world castle. There’s no real sense of when the stories take place, which is nice – they feel quite timeless with no modern technology.

It was nice to see a couple of returning characters in the books and to see some of the same Russian fairy-tales represented, such as the Yaga Houses. I really liked the character of Olia, and of the house spirit Feliks, and the water spirit, Cascadia, all who added their own magic to the story. I did feel that at the end of the story, the dialogue became a little preachy – lots of monologues with lessons and good intentions. There is nothing wrong with that – I just think they could be broken up a little so they didn’t seem quite so earnest! I do hope Sophie Anderson writes more of these Russian themed fairy tale books, as they are enchanting.

2021 Book #13 – Splinters of Scarlet

Medium – Book

About the Book – Marit Olsen is a young orphan living in Denmark hundreds of years ago. She is a magic-user in a land where magic comes with a terrible cost – if the person uses magic too often, they will be overtaken by the Firn, a deadly, ice-like build up which will slowly kill them. The Firn has already killed Marit’s sister, and Marit is determined that it will not kill her. Marit’s fellow orphan, Eve, is like her younger sister and is a fantastic dancer. When Eve is adopted by the ballerina, Helene Vestergaard, Marit decides to use her thread magic to become Helene’s seamstress, running the risk everyday of succumbing to the Firn. Marit soon learns that she is not the only servant with magic, and learns that her father’s death in a Vestergaard mine, which she thought an accident, may have been murder. She can solve the mystery, but may have to risk everything to do so…

My Rating – 3.5/10

My thoughts – This book was quite a hard read, hence the lower score – I found it quite hard-going in places, although the pace definitely picked up as the story progressed. It was an interesting story though – the tale of a person with magic who cannot use it, and the ways that she overcomes this to become the person she was created to be. The main character, Marit, was well-developed and interesting – the sort of person who makes up every YA female hero – kind, brave and witty. I don’t think she was the best character in the book, but she was an entertaining main character. I much preferred Liljan and Jakob, the brother and sister duo who are clever, hilarious and determined. Jakob, as the ‘love interest’ for the book was likeable and wasn’t a ‘warrior’, which was nice – someone more comfortable with books and academia than beating someone half to death.

I did like the way that the book was written, from two different perspectives. Without giving too much away, I thought the introduction of the second narrator was a really good addition to the book, which helped to add interest and a nuance to one of the characters (you’ll see which one if you read it!), which helped to make the book not so much of a clear battle between good and evil. Overall, an enjoyable reading experience, which did need some motivation to get through. Not one I would read again, but I’d be interested to see other books by the same author.

2021 Book #12 – A Gentleman in Moscow

Medium – Audiobook

About the Book – Count Alexander Rostov is a Russian Aristocrat living in Moscow in the 1920s. He is a resident at the Hotel Metropol, and one day is arrested by the Bolsheviks due to his rank, usually a death sentence. However, he is spared the firing squad because of a poem that was written years ago, which condemned the fripperies and indulgence of the Russian aristocrats. He is sentenced to house arrest at the Hotel Metropol, and is told that if he ever leaves the confines of the hotel, he will be shot. He is sent to an attic room and lives there for thirty years, whilst the tumultuous years of Stalin, Khrushchev and the Soviet Union play out outside of the doors of the hotel. Loved by the hotel staff and generally a very likeable man, Alexander finds that his reduced circumstances lead to emotional discovery and freedom.

My Rating – 4/5

My Thoughts – This book is one that I was attracted to because of the front cover – and the mentions of post-revolution Russia (one of my favourite periods of history to study!). It isn’t a book I would otherwise have picked up to listen to, but was part of a £3 offer on Audible, so I thought I would give it a go. The book’s storyline is really intriguing. It seemed very apposite – the tale of a man under house arrest with all his possessions, trying to fill his days. The descriptions of him rejoicing at the twelve o’clock lunchbell seemed very close to home (we are in the middle of Lockdown 3.0 in the UK). The plot was a little slow in places, but it really picked up towards the end, with an exciting ending, though it did leave a lot of questions slightly unanswered.

What I really loved about this book were the characters. Firstly – Count Rostov. I cannot remember (since reading the Lord of the Rings (Aragorn!) or Harry Potter (Lupin!)) liking a male character quite as much. He is cool, calm and collected, completely reconciled to his circumstances, is funny, witty and intelligent. He is also kind, and whilst he is generally aware of his station in life, he is never nasty to anyone below him. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself or his situation, he just accepts it and moves on. The other characters also seemed to leap off the page – the actress Anna, the Count’s two proteges (Nina and her daughter Sofia) and the Metropol staff. Despite being set in one place, the book doesn’t feel claustrophobic, and that is something really special.

2021 Book #11 – Death Sets Sail

Medium – Book

About the Book – Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are the founding members of the Detective Society, which they have set up at their school, Deepdean. They are invited to Egypt by their classmate Amina, and end up cruising down the Nile in the company of Amina, Hazel’s father and sisters, the girls’ friends Alex and George, and their tutors/nannies/governesses. Also present are the Breath of Life society, a group of English ladies and gentlemen who believe themselves to the the reincarnated forms of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. One morning, the leader of the group is found murdered and her sleepwalking daughter is found covered in blood. But not all is as it seems… and one of the girls will not be making the return journey.

My Rating – 4.5/5

My Thoughts – This is the first of the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ books that I have read, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that it was a ‘children’s’ (or at least young adult) book and not too gory, but had just the right amount of suspense and intrigue to make it a exciting and interesting detective story. The story had two good twists at the end, which I was not expecting, and which added to the enjoyment! I found that the way the author introduced the book was excellent – it really kept me reading and I really wanted to finish the book.

The two main characters (Daisy and Hazel) are delightful, and I really enjoyed the dynamic between the two. Daisy has feelings for another girl, her friend Amina, and I thought that this was dealt with really well – there was no sense that this was a problem or unaccepted, it was just a fact included in the book. Daisy is very much the ‘Sherlock’ of the two, sometimes unthinking about other people’s feelings and very brilliant. Hazel is much more caring, level-headed and methodical, and she does sometimes notice things Daisy does not. I also really enjoyed the burgeoning relationship between Hazel and Alex, and the characters of Hazel’s half-sisters, May and Rose. Both were really lovable, and I am super excited to hear that the author is already planning some books with May! Overall a book I would read again, and one where I would like to read the other books in the series.

2021 Book #10 – Bonkers: My Life

Medium – Audiobook

About the Book – Read by the author (Jennifer Saunders), this audiobook of her autobiography describes Jennifer’s life both in the comedy spotlight and outside of it. In it she talks through her various comedy successes (and failures) with a good pinch of the humour that she is famous for. She talks about her famous double act with Dawn French (serious #squadgoals there!), her work on Absolutely Fabulous which took her around the world, her move out of the spotlight and her treatment for breast cancer.

My Rating – 4/5

My Thoughts – Jennifer Saunders is one of those women who lives their life mostly out of the spotlight, but is a really interesting person. The type of person I would love to have a cuppa and a chat with. In this autobiography, Saunders says, right at the beginning, that there won’t be too much disaster and sadness, because that isn’t what her life is. I liked that about the book. Sometimes, I find with autobiographies that there is a constant feeling of sadness through the book (yes, I’m looking at you, Celia Imrie’s autobiography!), but in this one, it was a joy from start to finish. Saunders is self-deprecating and utterly loveable, obviously kind and dedicated to her friends.

I ordered this book from Amazon as it was recommended as something to fall asleep to – I’ve been having sleep issues, thanks to lockdown 3.0, and sleep stories weren’t really working for me anymore. This was a fantastic, soothing, funny and enjoyable book to fall asleep to. Even Saunders’ descriptions of her breast cancer treatment were dealt with in a humorous, calm and comforting way – I believe that her description of her experiences should be played to all those in this situation. It’s something I’ve always dreaded, but actually after I reflected that that source of anxiety had lessened slightly. The only reason I am not marking this book higher is due to the amount of loud singing and shouting in the audiobook version. I found that I ended up jumping a couple of times as suddenly there was a shout in my ear! But overall a good book and definitely recommended (especially read by the author!)

2021 Book #9 – The Good Hawk

Medium – Book

About the Book – Agatha is a young ‘Hawk’, a member of a clan in the Isle of Skye, who patrols the sea wall, looking for enemies and keeping her clan safe. She has Down’s Syndrome, and although many people question her right to be a Hawk, she knows that she is good at her job, brave and clever. Jaime is an Angler, a fisherman in the tribe who is worried about everything and is deathly afraid of the sea. One day, disaster strikes the clan, and Agatha and Jaime are left abandoned and betrayed as their clan are stolen away from them. To find them, they must travel to the abandoned land of Scotia, where there is magic, terrifying beasts and creatures that come out in the shadows.

My Rating – 5/5

My thoughts – I am a massive fan of YA fiction, so was super excited to pick this book up to read – and I wasn’t disappointed. This book came as part of a set of two from the Book Box Club, with the theme of ‘Deadly Secrets’. Although the previous book I had read from this particular box wasn’t my favourite (see the review here), this book more than made up for it. The book has a beautiful, wide Celtic setting, with enrapturing characters and a real sense of dread in places. I really enjoyed the fact that the two main characters weren’t your standard fantasy fiction heroes – a boy who is very scared of many things, and a girl with Down’s syndrome – but the book was all the better for that.

My favourite character was definitely Agatha, and I am so impressed by her characterisation. I liked that her having Down’s Syndrome was not a key plot point, and instead that she had a really unique view on the world, with her own special magical powers and courage. The author worked in an SEN school, and this completely shows in his building of the character and her voice – she is straightforward, unique and completely believable. I have family members with Down’s and this book felt like it was doing justice to them – not something that I have seen in any other book.

2021 Book #8 – The Diabolical Bones

Medium – Book

About the Book – Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte are at Haworth Parsonage, busy with their ambitions to become famous, published authoresses. Their quiet life is one day interrupted by the discovery of a cache of bones at a local house. Hearing that they are the bones of a young child, the Bronte sisters travel to the house to collect the bones from the nasty man who is the house’s owner, so that they can be interred for Christian burial. It soon becomes clear, however, that not only did the death of the child occur in mysterious circumstances, but witchcraft, pagan imagery and devil worship may also have surrounded the death of the child. The three sisters set out to try and find the murderer, although it soon becomes clear that they and the other villagers at Haworth may be in great danger.

My Rating – 3.5/5

My thoughts – This book was one that I had bought myself for Christmas, from my favourite independent bookseller, Fox Lane Books (excellent store, you should check them out!) I really enjoy historical murder mysteries, and books using already established characters, so I was quite interested to have a read of this book – especially as it had so many favourable reviews on Goodreads. The book was an interesting concept, and I really enjoyed the coming together of the three Bronte sisters to solve crimes. There is an overbearing sadness in the writing, as you realise that these three sisters, so full of life, all die at fairly young ages. This isn’t explored in the book, but is something I felt throughout. The characters were excellent – I especially liked the two younger sisters – the sensible and thoughtful Anne, and the free spirit Emily.

The lower score for this book is generally due to the beginning. Whilst I found the end (the last 150 pages) thrilling and got through it in one sitting, the beginning dragged for me, and it took me a few days. To be honest, if I hadn’t convinced myself I was going to read it, I probably would have abandoned it fairly quickly. I am glad I didn’t though, as I really enjoyed the ending, even though I had already guessed who the villain of the piece was.

2021 Book #7 – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Medium – Audiobook

About the Book – Evelyn Hugo is a 79-year old ex-actress, who made her name in the 50s to 80s, acting in countless movies and winning an Oscar. However, she is perhaps best known for her seven husbands. Monique Grant, a journalist with the Vivant, a top magazine, is asked to write a piece on Evelyn, when she seeks her out to write a rare expose on her life. Soon, Monique realises that Evelyn actually wants her to write her authorised biography, and secrets start to emerge about Evelyn’s loves and life. Evelyn’s biggest secret soon comes out, and Monique must think of the best, and most appropriate way, to break it to the world.

My Rating – 4/5

My Thoughts – This was the second audio book I have got through in quite quick succession – the joys of lockdown and being a bit under the weather! This book is quite different to anything I have read before and as such, I wasn’t expecting too much from it, but actually, I really quite enjoyed it. I did find that it was slightly depressing in places, and I did need to take a break half-way through to listen to something a little more uplifting! I really enjoyed the way that the book was structured, with each of the seven husbands having a chapter, along with magazine articles and the thoughts of Monique also included alongside Evelyn’s own retelling of her life story.

Evelyn was a really interesting and nuanced character, as was Monique, and I really liked both of them. Monique was a little timid and self-conscious to start off with, unwilling to stand up for herself before meeting Evelyn. It was great to see a woman of colour taking the lead in a book and I really enjoyed the glimpses into her life. Evelyn was wonderful and I thought that she was a really intriguing and intelligently written character – and the first older woman in fiction I had read for a while who still retained spark and fire. I loved the ‘redemption’ story of Evelyn but also liked the fact that she wasn’t a straightforwardly ‘good’ character.