Category: Contemporary

‘Darling Rose Gold’ – Stephanie Wrobel

Patty Watts and Rose Gold Watts…two names you’ll shudder to hear once you’ve ended this. While I felt sympathy for both characters, it’s hard also to not feel appalled by both.

Before you start reading, it’s clear this is a book that’s not afraid to plunge into the darkness. It heads straight for the darkest point you can find, roots around and then burrows deeper. I was expecting something pretty nasty, but as the dots started to join together and I got an inkling of where this might be going I almost feared reading on and having my suspicions confirmed.

Our story hinges on the dysfunctional mother and daughter combination. For years we are told Rose Gold was ill. That she was in and out of hospital, incapable of feeding and struggling to live. That eventually it was discovered her mother was making her ill. It’s no surprise that her mother is then imprisoned for her actions.

What surprised me was that we learn towards the end of Patty’s incarceration she is visited by Rose Gold. We learn they are attempting to restore their relationship, and that upon her release Patty is going to live with Rose and her son. Oddly, in spite of knowing her uncle committed suicide there and her mother was beaten there we are told Rose has bought her mother’s childhood home. There’s something odd going on, but it takes some time to work out just what.

The book alternates between two viewpoints and this is definitely a major part of the novel’s success. Hearing each character’s thoughts means we gain some understanding of their thought processes. We’re privy to their suspicions of each other, and the strange manipulative behaviour each exhibits in this bizarre, wholly dysfunctional relationship. We’re never sure who’s telling the truth, or who’s manipulating who.

By the time we approached the climax of the novel I really was amazed we’d taken this final turn. Chilling and emotionally terrifying behaviour from both characters and I couldn’t help but feel that neither deserved the fate they were dealt. There were no winners in this story, and though both Patty and Rose had their very obvious shortcomings I couldn’t bring myself to despise either of them because they were both, in so many ways, victims.

 

‘Boyfriend Material’ – Alexis Hall

Boyfriend Material was just what I needed right now…funny, a bit silly, romance in dollops (and not always where you’d expect it) and that feeling that things would work out just the way you knew they would even if there were bumps along the way.

Our story has two rather misguided souls as our central characters. Luc – son of two ex-rock stars, and who has a tendency to disgrace himself in public – and Oliver – lawyer who’s determined to keep control of everything around him. These two have met before, and not got on particularly well. But they are thrown together when Luc needs a ‘respectable’ date for a work event. Oliver agrees to be his fake boyfriend…so it’s just a matter of time before they end up together for real.

A bit like a rather over-the-top TV sitcom, there were somewhat excruciating jokes and some cliched characters. There were scenes where you could pretty accurately predict what was coming, almost down to the jokes. I didn’t particularly like the representation of the wealthy characters (too many cheap shots at something they seemed to have little awareness of), but the lurking irritations were very much on the outskirts of the central story.

Luc and Oliver might be infuriating in real life, but they seemed to bring out the best in each other and I was definitely rooting for them. Don’t expect anything unexpected here and you’ll be happy.

 

‘The Lost Soul Atlas’ – Zana Fraillon

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in advance of publication.

We know little about Twig, but when he wakes up at the start of the book we’re told he is in the Afterlife. He is in a world like nothing he’s ever seen before, and his guide through is a raven called Kurrk! who gets more than a little frustrated at Twig’s refusal to follow the rules expected of him. With just an atlas and an assortment of other objects, Twig determines to find his way to the other side and to avoid the guardians looking for him.

During his journey we learn a little more about Twig and his life on the streets. We’re never entirely sure what happened to his Da, and whether the creature he calls the Hoblin is really his gangland grandmother or a made-up thing. We find out a little about his life on the streets and how – along with petty thief Flea – he is forced to steal to survive.

While Twig’s life is not one you would aspire to, he has a bond with those he lives with that is to be envied. Fraillon uses these characters to highlight some of the injustices in the modern world, while the magical elements keep it from being too bleak.

 

‘The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers’ – Donna M. Zadunajsky

The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers opens with the murder of an unnamed girl. We know this event is taking place late at night, before the weekend, and that whoever kills the girl blames her for something. Then we cut back in time to allow the author to build up to the why and where, and dropping little clues about the who.

I think the first thing to say about this story is it’s ridiculously over the top in content and style. The characters walking round in this book are, to put it mildly, deranged and if you were to experience just one hint of the craziness going on here you’d walk away. By the time we get to the end I was almost laughing at how preposterous this story had become.

Our story focuses on a trio of girls. There’s bitchy Mayor’s daughter, Scarlet, who is a bully used to everyone jumping to do her bidding just because. We have her best friend, Rachel, who doesn’t like her all that much but who recognises that small-town popularity has its advantages. Lastly, there’s loner Laura who used to be friends withRachel but who has kept herself to herself since her brother and father were killed in a crash and her mother has become an abusive drunk.

For reasons that make little sense – like much of this – Scarlet decides that she wants to humiliate Laura and tries to befriend her in an attempt to cause maximum hurt. In the process, Rachel and Laura become friendly again and start to unearth some awful secrets about those around them.

There are so many skeletons tumbling out of closets here that it’s hard to know which way to turn. The casual misogyny and use of traumatic experiences for entertainment seems callous – perhaps it’s meant to mean something, but it comes across as cheap. I find it hard to believe such things would take place without anyone being suspicious, but we do build to some answers and some of the worst things are dealt with.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this prior to publication. If you like Pretty Little Liars then this could be up your street, but it really would be a stretch to say I’d enjoyed it or would recommend it to others.

 

‘More Than Maybe’ – Erin Hahn

A love story written by someone who I imagine is obsessed with matching moments to music, this is a contemporary that deserves to be fallen in love with.

Our main characters are Luke Greenly, son of a rather famous British punk musician, and Vada Carsewell, daughter to an ex-musician and determined to follow her dreams of being a music journalist. Luke, along with his twin Callum, hosts a regular podcast and Vada is desperately trying to help keep her boss’s bar afloat (not least because it forms a major part of her plans). It could only be this way, but each harbours a secret crush…on each other…so we get to watch as they get thrown together for a college assignment and then start to develop their relationship.

Alongside the love story between these two, we get a lot of attention on their family set-ups as they’re instrumental to the choices these two make. Some of the characters are more appealing than others, but the general vibe is a positive one that you can’t help but smile at. I defy anyone not to be full of love, rainbows and sparkly unicorns (or whatever else signifies happiness to you) by the closing moments.

What made this book stand out for me though was the obvious love of music and the significance it can hold for us as we go about our business. Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication, and now I need to go and dig out some old music!

‘Last Lesson’ – James Goodhand

Ollie Moorcombe, pianist and star student, about to take his GCSEs and seemingly on the brink of great things. Yet Ollie seems to be hanging on by a thread. On his last day of school he arrives with a home-made pipe bomb in his bag…how did it ever get to this stage?

We cut between past and present as we learn a little more about Ollie. We learn about the bullying he has endured at the hands of his classmates. We learn about the relationship he has with his grandpa, who he lives with as his mum is receiving treatment for schizophrenia. We learn that he fears for his life as he receives daily threats from some of his more sadistic classmates. And we learn something of the catalyst for some of these events – the death of his Aunt Kaye in a car crash, which Ollie was also part of.

There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a tough read. Graphic accounts of sexual violence, the flashbacks to the car accident and the details about Ollie’s treatment do not make for a comfortable read. The subject matter of a planned school bombing is scary – and getting into the mindset of the person planning it doesn’t make it any easier.

While it was easy to see some of the signs surrounding Ollie’s behaviour as potential triggers, it doesn’t go anywhere near explaining fully why he plans what he does. The author ensures we feel some sympathy for Ollie, which makes what he’s planning even more chilling. Seeing the decline in his mindset/behaviour was worrying, and not least because someone should have seen things were not right and done more. I got cross at all the missed signs that could have minimised the damage caused, and it certainly examines the toxic culture surrounding boys and mental health issues. I also found myself increasingly unnerved by the voice of Ollie, which was – perhaps – the first indication that this seemingly straightforward story was a little more complex than we might have been led to believe.

This will not be a book for everyone, but I do feel it raises important questions. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this and offer my honest thoughts prior to publication.

 

‘My Backward Life’ – Claire Merle

This is a book that will confound and delight in equal measures.
Our main character, Louise, goes to a gig with her friends on a Friday night. Things don’t quite go to plan, and she recalls walking home and falling. She has a memory of a boy coming to check on her, but when she wakes up she’s six days in the future and things are not what they were.
Leaving aside the whole ‘she’s jumped six days and nobody sees anything weird’, this gets odder as we realise Louise is now travelling backwards a day at a time. She knows things before they happen, and she’s taking steps to right wrongs that nobody is prepared for her to know.
Louise was a strong character, that you can’t help but root for as she tries to make sense of the strange events she’s living through. Her relationship with Dylan was entertaining to read about, and I liked the message this gave about her friendships.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for my thoughts.

 

‘The Female of the Species’ – Mindy McGinnis

Although there’s clear warning of the content/focus of this book, I admit to coming out of this feeling metaphorically battered. It’s dark, but oddly compelling, and I find myself confused at having such a positive reaction to characters – particularly Alex – that I should find wholly unattractive.

Even before the story begins it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Alex. She talks about her sister, Anna, giving her advice about growing up and dealing with men. Then she segues into the details she has learned about what happened to Anna on the night she was abducted, raped, brutalised and murdered. Sobering stuff.

To open then with a confession of how she tracks and murders someone (all we know is they had committed a sexual crime) shocked me. Are we dealing with a cold-blooded killer? Is Alex a psychopath? These labels are bandied around and might make it easier to categorise how we react to others in society, but they don’t seem easy to apply to the character we come to know in more depth through this story.

McGinnis focuses on not just Alex but a number of other characters to reference our seemingly toxic attitudes to sex and rape culture. As part of her senior year commitments Alex volunteers at a local animal shelter. Here we see a warm and compassionate character, making friends with preacher’s kid, Peekay, and through this friendship being drawn into the fold of normal teen behaviour. She ends up in a relationship with star athlete, Jack, who is drawn to her even though he has his suspicions of the darkness inside her. Alongside these three characters we have others, but they never really felt developed. They exist to bring about certain scenarios, or to allow our main characters to make a point. There are few adult voices in the book, and though they talk of knowing about things happening they don’t try to stop them…and that makes them culpable for me. I feel they have a duty to try to pass on their experience and advise the younger generation – taking precautions if necessary to keep them safe.

While I feel the topics covered in this book need to be talked about, I’m not convinced it’s fully successful here. We can see the toxicity surrounding many of the female characters, and the perpetuation of awful attitudes. Yes, this needs addressing – but is Alex’s response really the only option? I’d have to say absolutely not. Few characters change their views, and throughout the book there are actions taken that show how easy it is for these attitudes to be maintained if nobody does anything. But Alex’s route is one that cannot be seen to be successful, which seems to go some way to explain the ending.

The ending…a shock on its own. I was expecting fireworks as we could start to see where this might be going, but I’m not convinced the characters used earlier and returned to here would have waited so long for their vengeance. It lent a certain weight to the view that we’re all complicit in such events, even if it’s through inaction. However, the ending seemed a way of dealing with a character that the author wasn’t sure what to do with. On one hand we applaud her resolve to stand up for things she sees as wrong, but her actions go against the structural make-up of our society. She can’t succeed, because that would be a clear sign that we’re very broken.

Trying to write this review has been tough. There was a lot to like about this book, in spite of its subject, and though there are areas in which I feel it could have gone further it does try to make a start. That, for me, counts for a lot.

 

‘I Killed Zoe Spanos’ – Kit Frick

From the moment I saw this cover I couldn’t wait to read I Killed Zoe Spanos. With the focus being on a young woman who has confessed to a murder, and another who is determined to uncover the truth it promised lots.

When we first meet Anna Cicconi she is not in the best of places. We get told about excessive drinking, potentially dangerous hook-ups and blacking out with no recollection of events. As part of her attempts to get her life back on track she takes a summer job for a wealthy family in the Hamptons, acting as an au pair. Upon arrival she is somewhat taken aback by people commenting on her similarity in appearance to local girl, Zoe Spanos. This isn’t too strange, until we learn Zoe has been missing for months and nobody knows what has happened to her.

As the summer progresses, Anna meets a number of characters linked to Zoe, and she starts to have recollections that – by rights – she shouldn’t be having. She knows things about Zoe and her life that suggest she knew her. It becomes a case not of is Anna hiding something, but a case of will Anna work out what on earth is going on?

The timescale of this book lends to the air of confusion perfectly. As we learn more of the events of the summer, we also learn that Anna is being held having confessed to the murder of Zoe. Some think it’s an open and shut case, while others are convinced Anna might be innocent. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t tell where the author was going with this as there were a number of very plausible interpretations, any of which would have worked.

Definitely one to recommend for fans of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series.

 

‘Come When I Call You’ – Shayna Krishnasamy

Having just finished this I’m still not entirely sure I fully grasped every detail, but the overall impact was powerful. It’s the kind of story that happened in a blur, never really giving me the chance to pause and check details. We don’t have every little detail explained, and the end suggested certain events but I know I would struggle to tell someone with certainty what actually takes place.

The story opens with good girl Anna being asked to look after her younger cousin. There’s suggestions of something very odd going on but we never find out exactly what took place that night.

The action then shifts to a remote boarding school. We see Anna in her current setting. She has her good friend, Penelope, and crush, Ben, but things between the group are tense – not helped by the death of one of their classmates.

On the same day as this event, Anna’s mysterious cousin Lucia appears. She has run away from home and Anna promises to keep her safe.

Up to this point things were pretty easy to follow. Then we have a storm, the group set up a seance and I’ll admit to not knowing with certainty exactly what happened. Everything was described in detail, but no explanation was given so it felt like we were somewhat in the dark. There appeared to be a haunting, deaths and very odd events. The ending also hinted strongly that everything with Anna was not quite as it first appeared.

If you like your stories clear-cut, you’ll probably hate this. If you’re happy to be left somewhat in the dark you won’t be disappointed.