This is my first book by Holly Bourne, she is primarily a YA author and How Do You Like Me Now? is her adult novel debut. I whizzed through this in a few days, this is her funny, witty – and very knowingly cutting – take on the unsaid social and life conventions of women […]
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Opening sentence: “The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as ‘The Styles Case’ has now somewhat subsided.’ The Mysterious Affair at Styles has its place in literature history as not only the first Hercule Poirot story, but as the first novel ever published by Agatha Christie. Set in 1917, […]
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Opening sentence: “A devil had flown in through Her bedroom window.” So, this book has a truly fascinating real-life backstory: In 1919, Mabel Barltrop (aka Octavia) founded the Panacea Society, a religious group of mainly older, widowed middle-class women who believed that Octavia was the eighth prophet and daughter of God. The society’s base is […]
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Opening sentence: “You’ve got to say this for desperation: it makes you much more open-minded.” Oh I just loved, loved, loved the story of Tiffy and Leon and was a more than a little sad when my walks to and from work were no longer accompanied by them. As I mentioned in a previous post, […]
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Opening sentence: “The first thing she noticed was her skin.” I knew nothing about this book when I started it, it popped through my letterbox just as I’d finished my current read, so it felt right to dive straight in. My other half saw the cover and said, “that looks a bit creepy” – (apparently […]
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Welcome to my stop on the Beyond Reasonable Doubt blog tour! This fast-paced thriller has hands-down taught me more about the British legal system than all the courtroom dramas I’ve ever watched put together. And there’s good reason for that; the author (co-author, Scott Kershaw also has a writing credit) Gary Bell QC, is a real-life […]
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Opening sentence: “The Palazzo Falconieri stands on a promontory on one of the smaller Italian lakes.” Like a lot of other people recently, I became a bit addicted to watching Killing Eve. Two series of excellent TV that tell the tale of covert MI5 operative Eve Polastri and the enigmatic female assassin she is hunting, Villanelle. […]
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